Rio: Fear and Feathers in Las Vegas
by Ted Wakeman
Summary: It seems everything is now calm between Blu and Jewel, but when Nigel arrives in Niagra Falls and captures them, their next stop is into a city of insanity!  Crossover between my story "Headlines" and Project NICK's "Rio: Love Trip"
1. Here We Go Again

**HELLO, HELLO, HELLO!**

**To start off, my fine readers, THIS IS THE REAL DEAL. The biggest thing I've ever done, as well as Project NICK, is making this story.**

**To fill you in if the summary got you interested:**

**This story is a crossover between my acclaimed stories "The Big Scoop" and "Headlines" with the also-acclaimed fics "Lost in Paradise" and "Love Trip" by Project NICK. This story will cross over our storylines, as well as our Original Characters featured in them (Arthur, Wally, Bobby, Robyn, Flora, etc.). We've been planning this story for about 2 months now, every minute more ideas sprouting and more development popping up. Simply put, the aim of this story by me and Project NICK is to make this THE BIGGEST Rio fanfic, on scale, emotion, and overall quality. In general, we want this to be one of the best Rio fics ever, because our aim is to entertain you, to make you laugh, to make you feel emotion. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the story!**

...

**Rio: Fear and Feathers in Las Vegas**

Chapter 1

Here We Go Again

On a warm and beautiful day, in the majestic and breathtaking place known as Niagara Falls, two Spix Macaws were watching humans gaze upon the waterfalls, and seeing fellow birds soar everywhere.

"This place is just so amazing," said Jewel, the free-spirited Macaw. "I almost don't want to go back home..."

Blu, her mate, and the more clumsy yet intelligent Macaw, put a wing around her. "Yeah, I know... but our kids are waiting for us back home, and you can't replace that kind of affection..."

Jewel sighed, and said, "I know, I know..."

Then, she had a seductive smile on her face, and began to nuzzle her beak against Blu's chest. "Remember our life before we had the kids?"

"You mean with me in Minnesota, and you in Tulio's aviary?" guessed Blu, confused.

Jewel smirked, and said, "No, silly... our life 'after' we met, and 'before' we had the kids..."

"After?" Blu frowned in confusion, but when Jewel came closer to him, he began to feel a little hot, and he soon realized what she mean  
>she meant.<p>

"Oh... uh, now?"

Jewel nodded her head, and Blu gulped. "Uh... yeah, okay... sure, let's go."

So, the two love hawks began to kiss each other passionately... but just before their beaks touched, a friend of theirs popped out of nowhere, behind Blu, and he cried, "Morning, sleeping beauty!"

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" screamed Blu, jumping into Jewel's wings. "Arthur?"

Arthur, their reporter-bird and Spix Macaw friend, laughed, and said, "Boy, I was wondering when you were going to wake up!"

Blu noticed that Jewel was giving Arthur a death look, so in order for him to not get hurt, he said, "Good morning, Arthur. Did you sleep well?"

"Aw, man, I slept like an angel," replied Arthur, putting his wing around his friend. "It felt like I was in Heaven!"

"Keep talking," grumbled Jewel. "And you'll end up going to Heaven..."

"I beg your pardon, m'am?" said Arthur with a dopey smile, who didn't fully hear Blu's mate.

"Uh..." Jewel put on a smile. "I said that why don't you and Blu keep talking, and spend some 'guy' time together?"

Arthur's eyes instantly lit up. "Sure, that's a great idea! Come on, Blu, let's..."

Before the energetic bird could continue, another visitor came into the nest that Blu and Jewel had found. "Well, it looks like you two seem ready for the day... oh, hi, Arthur."

Arthur turned to see who had come, and when she saw it was Jez, another Spix Macaw (and Blu's long-lost sister), a song began to play in his head.

_I've been waiting for a girl like you to come into my life_  
><em>I've been waiting for a girl like you, your loving will survive<em>  
><em>I've been waiting for someone new to make me feel alive<em>  
><em>Yeah, waiting for a girl like you to come into my life<em>

"Arthur?" Blu whistled in his friend's ear, and he snapped out of his trance. "She just told you hello."

"Oh, uh..." Arthur chuckled nervously. "Good-good morning... er... J-Jessie... no, uh, wait... hi, Jez. Did you sleep great?"

Jez was about to answer, but then, everyone heard another male bird cry out, "Yo, Jez! Come here!"

"Who is that?" asked Blu, and (to his surprise) Arthur.

"It's just a friend," answered Jez. "He gets stuck in a bush almost every other day. Oh, well... see you three later!"

After giving Blu a warm hug (with Arthur frowning in confusion), she flew away, and both Blu and Jewel turned to Arthur, with their eyebrow raised, and the reporter bird said, "Why are you two looking at me like that?"

"Don't give me that," replied Jewel. "You're in love with her, Arthur, admit it."

"Me?" Arthur began to back away. "No, no way... uh, I think I hear Wally and Bobby calling me. I'm coming, guys!"

He flew away, and Jewel turned to look at Blu, who said, "What?"

"He's your friend, Blu," said Jewel. "Go and talk to him."

"Why me?" replied Blu. "I mean, he's your friend, too..."

Jewel frowned, and said, "Because, honey, part of me is still mad at him for kissing me at the club, and for coming here, thanks to Rafael, whom I will deal with once we go home... so, if you want to keep Arthur safe, go talk to him."

Blu sighed, knowing that she had won, even though he 'did' want Arthur safe from her, so in a few seconds, Blu was flying after Arthur. "Wait up!"

When he finally caught up to Arthur, who was on the flag pole of the Maid of the Mist boat, Blu said, "Phew, wow, you're fast... look, buddy, I know you like Jez... don't give me that look, pal, it's true... just let me tell you something about her."

"Hold it, buddy," said Arthur, putting a wing to Blu's beak. "Why did you two, uh, hug like that? Are you..."

"No, no, no, no, no," replied Blu, laughing. "I already got in trouble with that... no, it's because Jez and I are..."

"Hey!" Before he could finish, the captain of the boat raced over to the pole. "No birds on this boat during this time... shoo, shoo!"

"Whoo, Captain Hook woke up on the wrong side of the bed!" Arthur sqwuaked out with a laugh.

Not wanting to cause trouble, Blu and Arthur flew away, heading back to their friends, and on the way, Blu said, "Where was I? Oh, yeah, look, man, Jez is my..."

"Uno momento, my azul amigo," said Arthur. "I'm gonna try to talk to her again."

As Blu watched his friend go over to Jez's nest, the young Macaw groaned. "Do I have to do everything myself?"

A few minutes later, Blu was flying over to Jewel, in their nest, but he soon noticed that she looked much happier than she did before.

"Uh, why the sudden happiness?" asked Blu.

Jewel pointed down below, and the young Macaw saw that Arthur was talking to Jez, but he also noticed that Pedro and Robyn were hiding nearby.

Rolling his eyes, Blu flew over to the cardinal couple, and whispered, "Didn't your mother ever tell you that it was rude to eavesdrop, Pedro?"

The cardinal whispered, "It's not like that, Blu... I'm just trying to enjoy my time here."

"Uh-huh," said Blu. "Robyn, what's your ex... uh, I mean, your reason?"

Pedro's counterpart and wife whispered, "I'm not even listening... the only reason I'm here is because Mr. Peeping Tom over here wouldn't let me finish my beauty sleep."

"You're already the most beautiful bird I know," said Pedro. "Don't have me become obsessed over you..."

Not wanting to hear the cardinals "love talk", Blu flew over a little closer to Arthur and Jez, who said, "So, how long have you known Blu?"

"For almost three years now, I think," replied Arthur. "We... m-met a few days after he and Jewel fell in love, and we grew closer after he tried to save me from an evil bird."

"Nigel?" said Jez. "Blu told me about him..."

Arthur chuckled, and said, "No, this guy was a lot more worse than the cockatoo. Oh, and one time, when I was at a camp..."

"Whoa, that just reminded me of something!" exclaimed Jez. "I wanted to show you guys this really cool place that I found."

"I'll be the judge of that," replied Pedro, who came out in the open, followed by Robyn.

Arthur tried to speak, but very quickly, Jez was flying away, leading Jewel, Robyn, and Pedro away from the Falls, and after Blu went next to him, he sighed, and asked, "Blu, why is it so hard to talk to a pretty girl like Jez?"

Blu chuckled, and said, "I asked myself the same thing when I first met Jewel. Come on, buddy, let's go see what Jez meant by a real cool place."

Arthur sighed thoughtfully, knowing the charm he had wasn't going to go to waste. After all, he didn't get Petricious from good looks, that's for sure...

...

"Hey Bobby, you find Arthur yet?"

Bobby and Wally were currently busy scouting out the forest, searching for their Spix macaw friend.

"Not yet, man. Maybe he's with Blu and Jewel? They're family after all." Bobby reasoned as he poked his head into a tree and was quickly smacked out by a lady woodpecker who began to chirp angrily at the pigeon invading her privacy.

"Man, you ain't got any luck with the ladies, huh?" Wally chuckled as he stared at his dazed friend who was lying on the ground. Bobby smirked sarcastically and then got up, looking around once more. Wally walked forward into a patch of bushes, and then suddenly spotted a sight that caught him off guard.

"Hey Bobby, come look at this..."

...

As Arthur and Blu slowly flew behind the rest of the birds, Arthur continued to think of a way to charm his new piece of affection. Arthur, however, couldn't think straight with the beauty he had seen. He'd never seen another female Spix macaw as beautiful as this one..Jez, was it? Those eyes...Those deep, violet eyes that just pierced through his soul like the greatest stars in the skys...shining like diamonds...

"Artie?"

_...her voice was like silk..._

"Artie?"

_...Such beauty...Such grace in a bird..._

"ARTIE!"

Arthur suddenly snapped back to reality after Blu had been yelling to him for the past minute. Arthur blinked confusingly, and then stared happily at Blu.

"What is it, Blu boy?" Arthur asked, his voice nonchalant, trying to cover his romantic thinking. Blu hesitated, and was about to speak again, when the group suddenly stopped.

"Here it is!" Jez said with a smile, pointing to a clearing that was filled with different tents, tables, equipment and a pickup truck sitting behind the equipment. All the birds slowly paced forward cautiously, not knowing what exactly any of the things were. Suddenly, a white figure came firing towards the group of birds and then smacked into the ground in front of them, all of them scampering off to hide from the strange thing that had crashed in front of them. Arthur ran over, and suddenly recognized it...It was Wally...And his head was a skeleton. Arthur's eyes shot open, and he suddenly screamed loudly.

"NO WALLY! WE WERE TOO LATE! WHY MUST THE GOOD DIE YOUNG?" Arthu screamed, running in circles as the seagull looked up at the Spix macaw quizzingly. Blu then grabbed the panicing macaw and then stopped his running.

"Check it out, I'm dead from the neck up!" Wally chuckled as walked towards the birds. The seagull was apparently wearing a perfect replica of a bird skull on his head. Arthur laughed slowly, feeling both embarassment and panic in his mind.

"Sorry...Guess vision went before thought..." Arthur said with a weak laugh. Arthur glanced nervously at Jez, who giggled lightly at him. Arthur could almost feel the red burn of a blush coming through his feathers, but he ignored it.

"Should we really be here, Jez? I mean, this place doesn't exactly look bird friendly..." Blu said as his voice trailed off when Wally looked at him with his skull 'cap' on his head.

"You kiddin'? I love this place!" Bobby exclaimed as he stood on a stack of plates a few feet away. The pigeon then slipped, which caused a plate to fire off like a rocket and smash into a nearby tree. Arthur suddenly noticed Jez flying up to a nearby table, which seemed to have an old-fashioned typewriter propped on it. Arthur smiled brightly and confidentally, knowing this was a perfect oppurtunity to put the moves on. Arthur flew up to the table and was about to speak, when Jez turned back around at the reporter bird, who smiled brightly in return.

"Do you know what this is?" asked Jez. Arthur looked at the machine, and nodded his head.

"Of course I do... my, uh, former owner was on this for most of his life. Watch this!" Using his claws, Arthur began to type random letters until the machine made a ding noise.

"Huh..." chuckled Arthur. "I like the sound of that!" The Macaw did it again, but then, Bobby accidentally broke a plate from the huge pile he stood on.

"Oh, my bad, you guys," said the Bobby, but to Arthur, it was the beginning of a jazzy beat.

"No man, keep that up! I'm liking this!" Arthur exclaimed with a wide smile.

When he typed again, Bobby smashed another plate, and then, Pedro ripped a page from a book.

"Honey, please," said Robyn. "Can you control yourself?"

"No, hey, relax, babe," cried Arthur. "I'm on a roll here!"

"BABE?" Robyn huffed, and began to walk toward him, but Jewel stopped her.

"Save the anger for Rafael," said Blu's mate. "Trust me..." As Arthur, Nico, and Pedro continued their acts, with Wally tossing things around and beating on objects with rhythm, Blu cried, "Hey, Arthur, I forgot to say that-"

However, a kid-sized trumpet flew toward him, but luckily, he caught it, and when Blu played a note, Arthur said, "Oh, yeah!" The former reporter-bird typed on the machine, Bobby broke a plate, along with Pedro ripping a page and the seagull making noise, and then, Arthur cried, "Come on, Blu! Kick it up a notch!"

Blu began to play the trumpet, with a smile, and while typing, Arthur said, "Ding! I love that part... come on, Jewel, sing us a little something!" As Blu played the musical instrument some more, Jewel began to ad-lib a jazzy tune.

_"Shabadoo, labadoo, debadiao, lebada, dabida!" _

"Man, this is the most fun I've had in ages!" Wally laughed as he started to slam on numerous pans around him, when a flying plate smashed into his head and smashed the skull off his head. Wally blinked his eyes in a daze and then laughed in unrealized pain.

"Ouch..."

While playing, Blu thought, "Hmmm... why do I feel like I've heard this before?"

Soon, everyone began to play to the new song, and the singers were Jewel, Arthur, Nico, and Pedro.

_"Doo, bop, shidoooo, whoo!" _

However, none of them noticed a rustling in the bushes. After the instrumental break, Blu handed the trumpet to Arthur, and began to sing, as well.

_"Shabadoo, labadoo, debada, labida!"_

Arthur blew on the trumpet, and Jewel sang along with Blu.

_"Doo, bop, sheedoo!"_

"Shabadoo, labadoo, dabadoo, debada, ladida!" Arthur played again, and he smiled when Jez made a face that meant she was impressed.

"Wow, where'd you learn to play so well?" Jez asked with a smile that made Arthur know he was winning over the lady Macaw.

"Easy! Mr. Jenkin's smooth Jazz always helped me!" Arthur laughed as he continued to rip out note after note on the trumpet while the continuing madness around him was creating an overall jazz-sound while Jewel and Blu continued to sing.

_"Shoobadoo, daboo, dabba dabba dee da!"_

_"Doo bop shee doo!"_

_"WHOO!"_

Unknown to everyone, Wally suddenly disappeared into the bushes without any trace left of him. Finally, the music died down, all except for Arthur who continued to play the trumpet until his last breath gave out. Jez was actually impressed at the reporter-bird that had seemed so energetic and outgoing, and was about to speak when a huge figure suddenly smashed into Arthur and sent him flying about 10 feet away. Jez jumped back in shock at the sudden appearance of the huge, white bird standing in front of her.

"Hey! What's your problem?" Jez sqwuaked angrily, pacing over to the bird, before he raised his head and revealed himself to be...The cockatoo we all know as Nigel.

"Oh nothing, Pretty Bird. I was just about to throw you into your new home..." Nigel chuckled as Blu suddenly noticed the cockatoo and his eyes shot open as he noticed Jez in his sights.

"Jez, run!" Blu yelled, waving his wings and running rapidly towards his sister. Before Blu could reach the cockatoo, a cage suddenly landed on top Blu, imprisoning him like a set of prison bars to an inmate.

"What the...Jez?" Arthur said in a daze, suddenly spotting Nigel grabbing the other Spix macaw.

"Arthur!" Jez yelled out to the reporter-bird, suddenly making him feel determined to KO the cockatoo. Arthur quickly bolted after the cockatoo and Jez, but suddenly he felt a hard force land on his head like a rock and his whole head began to feel fuzzy, until he finally became unconscious.

...

"Stop shakin' around, you bag of feathers!"

Unknown to the birds, it had turned out that the ones that had captured the birds were a group of smugglers, only they were much different than the smugglers Blu had been captured by in Rio. These men seemed more professional, with more elite-lookin equipment, better-looking and less run-down looking.

"Hey boss, how much do you think a Spix macaw will go for nowadays?" The skinnest of the three smugglers asked as he poked his finger inside the cage where he had caught the Spix, when a loud sqwuak yelled out and a snap echoed, and the man quickly pulled his hand back in pain, a stream of crimson leaking out.

"Ow! The thing bit me!" The man yelled out, inspecting his wounded finger as a tubby-looking man next to him with a bag carrying another Spix macaw laughed.

"Don't touch the merchandise, man!" The man laughed as he carried off the bag carrying the bird, when he suddenly noticed a cockatoo tossing yet another two Spix macaws into a cage. The tubby smuggler walked over with a confused expression, his eyes focusing on the cockatoo, who almost looked like he was..._smiling _at the two men.

"Hey dude, this cockatoo is helpin' us..." The tubby smuggler said as he walked closer as he eyed the two Spix macaws greedily, knowing all this catch would likely buy them ten mansions, rather than just one. However, this cockatoo just seemed abnormal with how he seemed to be helping their catch.

"Larry...What kinda stuff did you buy from that guy in Reno?" The skinny smuggler asked, his face carved with befuddlement as he carried over the cage with the now-terrified looking Spix macaw.

"No, really! He just tossed those two macaws in that cage. I think he's tryin' to help us!" Larry exclaimed, walking closer to the cockatoo, who now seemed to have an annoyed expression on his beaked-face. The other man rolled his eyes and then walked over and picked up the cage that held the two Spix macaws that the cockatoo had tossed inside, both of them seeming to panic at the movement of the cage.

"It doesn't matter...All I know is, we've got 4 of the rarest macaws in the world, and we're going to have ALL the money we could ever dream of..." The skinny man said with a gleam in his eye as he spoke greedily and stared off into the sky, to which Larry followed as well.

"...What are we looking at?"

"Just load the truck, you moron. We're leaving with these birds back to McClaran tonight..."

...

**A/N: This chapter is somewhat experimental, as you can see me and Project NICK crossed our writing styles quite a bit in this fic. All I ask is for any constructive criticsim, good or bad. I want to honestly hear what you think. As I stated before, I aim to please when I make fan-fiction, and I'm sure Project NICK feels the same. All I ask is for reviews, and we'll continue to provide!**

**READ, COMMENT, REVIEW!**


	2. Jailbirds

**Welcome back, my friends!**

**The recent popularity of BMT3K is actually making me wonder now which story is a main project and which one is a side-project! Haha! **

**With the summer now full-swing, expect TONS of updates on all of my current stories. This one especially, as well as Brazilian Macaw Theater 3000, will get updated extremely frequently, this story likely getting a new chapter every 4-5 days, and BMT3K likely getting a new chapter every 1-2 days!**

**So, just continue to read, comment, and you'll keep getting more chapters, both better AND faster!**

**...**

Chapter 2

Jailbirds

"That the last of 'em?"

Larry and Gordon, the two smugglers that had successfully caught the only four Spix macaws in the world were currently loading their haul into the huge van they had, and were about ready to leave in it to get to the nearest airport so they could get their gross of money for the prized birds.

"Yeah, I'm thinkin' that'll be it! Let's get back West quick. I heard Cher is performing tommorow night, and with the money we have, we'll be able to afford it!" Larry exclaimed as he walked to driver's seat of the van.

"She's still around? When the heck is she ganna learn she sucks now?..."

...

While the Spix macaws were being bird-napped by this strange group of men, Bobby was still happily dancing and singing away.

"C'mon everyone, let's bring it on home! Shabba dooba yabba dabba doo!" Bobby exclaimed, dancing on a pile of plates. All of the sudden, he felt himself get grabbed from behind his back and was suddenly staring up into the trees.

"AH! Mother Nature's attacking!" Bobby screamed, when the familiar face of Pedro shooshed him loudly.

"Dude, you gotta stay quiet! Blu and the guys just got bird-napped, man!" Pedro said with a scared expression. Bobby suddenly beared a surprised expression and jumped up and peered a few feet away, and immeadiatley noticed a huge van with two men loading what looked exactly like the four Spix macaws.

"Artie! Oh man, we gotta get them outta there!" Bobby exclaimed, about ready to streak over to the van when Pedro stopped him short from behind.

"Dude, we ain't ganna just run in there and break 'em out!" Pedro exclaimed, carefully watching the van as it sputtered and suddenly turned on.

"Then what ARE we supposed to do, smart bird?" Robyn asked, noticing the van starting to move. Pedro realized this as well, and a look of embarassment suddenly struck his face.

"Let's got get 'em!" Pedro exclaimed in a war cry-type way as he sped off after the van. Bobby and Robyn quickly jumped after him and sped after the red-crested cardinal and more importantly, their trapped friends.

...

In the back of the van, Blu and Jez were in one cage, while Arthur, Wally, and Jewel were in another cage.

"This is ridiculous," groaned Jewel. "I... hate... cages... and I don't even get to be in the same one with Blu!"

"Hey, you still got me, hot rod," grinned Arthur, as a joke, but the result was Jewel slamming him against the cage's bars. "Okay... I deserved that... yo, Wally, what are you doing?"

Somehow, the seagull had gotten halfway out of the cage, and he cried, "You'll... see... there!"

Wally finally squeezed his head out of the cage bars and then popped out of the cage like a bullet, crying, "Okay, guys, now I can..."

"Where do you think you're going?" All of a sudden, something kicked the bird hard, and Arthur covered his eyes so he couldn't see Wally crash into a net. Wally opened his eyes confusingly, not knowing what exactly what had happened, but then realized his head was stuck in the net.

"Uh, guys?" Wally tried to back out, but was unable to. "My head is stuck in this thing!"

Nigel laughed, and said, "Excellent! Now, I can easily cut off your head for my lunch."

The seagull gulped, and began to scream and holler as the cockatoo approached him, but then, Blu cried, "Leave him alone, Nigel!"

"What did you say?" growled Nigel, who turned around, and began walking slowly towards the cage that the Macaw was in.

"I said to leave my friend alone," repeated Blu. "It's not my fault that you were almost chewed by Lyle the Crocodile."

Nigel smiled maliciously, and said, "Actually, my delicious-looking friend, it is your fault!"

In a swift move, the cockatoo used his talons to bend open the cage's bars, and he grabbed Blu by the throat, tossing him to the ground.

After closing the bars back up, he flew toward Blu, and began to attack him. "Ever since you came into my life, cerulean bird, it's been a living nightmare, and I can't wake up!"

"Oof!" groaned Blu, who was getting in more pain every second. "Look... ow... it isn't... ugh... my entire fault... ulp!"

Nigel picked Blu up by the throat in his talons, and brought him to eye-level. "Everything that happened to me was because of you, Blu... and now, since we're gonna be alone for a while, I'm going to enjoy the pain that I will give to you."

"If you hurt him again," cried Jewel. "I swear on my every feather that I will personally claw your eyes out!"

"Hahahahaha..." laughed Nigel. "You won't do that, pretty bird."

"Oh, yeah, turkey?" taunted Jewel. "Just let me out of here, and I'll prove it."

"You won't have to," said Nigel. "Not after I do this..."

Then, to everyone's horror, the nefarious cockatoo picked up a 12-pound bowling ball, and laughed in a mischievous, dark tone.

"Let's see what happens when I do this..."

What happened next was the sound of a thud, and Blu painfully screaming, which brought a smile to the villian's face.

"That felt better..." said Nigel. "And, if it makes you feel any bettter, pretty bird..."

The cockatoo put Wally and Arthur into the cage with Jez, and with a big smile, he roughly put the injured Macaw with Jewel.

"Blu, are you okay?" asked Jewel, holding his mate in his arms.

Instead of an answer, Blu simply nodded his head, but with a sad expression.

Jewel turned back to Nigel, and growled, "You're a monster!"

"Oh, that reminds me," said Nigel. "I can settle for his loved ones."

"Attack her, Nigel," wheezed Blu. "And, I swear that you'll pay for it!"

Before Nigel could speak, Arthur cried, "We're not intimidated by featherless chickens!"

The cockatoo looked at him, and said, "You know, you remind me of a friend of mine..."

With great speed, Nigel flew over to the other cage, and growled, "I hated him!"

"Stop it!" yellled Jewel.

Nigel turned back to Blu's mate, and began to chuckle darkly. "Oh, I get it... You must be Blu's squeeze, hmm?"

He began to hover around the cage that Jewel and Blu were in, and noticed that she looked a little nervous.

"You look afraid," said Nigel. "Is it the scars? You want to know how I got 'em?"

"I thought it was because of Blu," said Arthur. "Remember, he made you end up almost shredded in that propeller?"

"Not that scar, insignificant bird," growled Nigel. "Come here..."

Doing what he did before, Jewel was now in the bird's talons, and Nigel exclaimed, "Hey! Look at me. So I had a wife, beautiful, like you, who tells me I'm a jerk to everyone but myself."

"Holy moley," gasped Arthur. "You had a wife?"

Wally chuckled, but the two shut their mouths after Nigel said, "Speak again, and you will both be my lunch!

"Now, where was I? Oh, yeah... she also says I'm a man who gambles in life and doesn't have enough friends...One day, a rotten, brown eagle that worked on my show with me attacks her one night, and tears up her face real good.

"And we have no other way to help or heal the scars faster. She can't take it. I just want to see her smile again, hmm?

"I just want her to know that I don't care about the scars. So...I start picking fights...Getting roughed up with a few birds here and there..."

"...So then after a while, I look like this...And you know what? She can't stand the sight of me! She leaves. Now I see the funny side. Now I'm always laughing!"

Jewel frowned, and then swiftly slashed at the cockatoo's face, pasting another scratch onto his face. Nigel frowned, and then pinned Jewel to the floor swiftly with a laugh.

"So much spunk it a little bird," Nigel said with a smirk. "It'll get you killed sometime..."

"Someone's about to get killed!" A voice yelled from behind the cockatoo as Nigel suddenly felt the whole force of a small bird smash into his head and knocked him to floor of the van.

...

Meanwhile, the jungle of Rio de Janeiro still looked the same way. A huge collage of green that was marked with the millions of birds that showed their colors as they streaked across the jungle. However, the normal rythm that sounded through the jungle was absent.

Instead, however, it was the loud cries of Nico as he shouted for Carlos, who he had just discovered moments before that someone had bird-napped him. Other birds were watching as the canary was going insane as he sped through the jungle, screaming maniacally.

"Carlos! Buddy! Where are ya?" Nico screamed as he thundered past millions in trees and millions of birds in a matter of seconds. A flock of macaws laughed as the canary whizzed by, going as fast as his wings could carry him.

"Check it out, that singin' canary is bustin' an artery!" A high-voiced green macaw laughed as the rest of the macaws next to him laughed.

When the canary went up to a hollow tree, two owls came out of their home, with one asking, "Yo, Tweety bird, you saw a puddytat?"

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny," sneered Nico. "I'm looking for my friend's kid... and don't you two have a meeting with Winnie the Pooh?"

Before he could speak more, Nico suddenly spotted the familiar colors of Rafael, and flew after them. He then quickly tried to stop himself short, but the sudden stop threw him hard and far, and he finally smashed into a tree next to Rafael and Flora.

"Whoa! Nico, you alright?" Rafael exclaimed as he looked down on the now dazed Nico.

"Jesus Christ, honey," said Flora. "When I said I wanted you to be my Tarzan, I didn't mean for you to end up like George in the Jungle!"

After they helped him up, the canary's eyes shot open, and Nico quickly started stuttering loudly.

"I...I...I...Lost... AAAAH!" Nico shrieked, his voice suddenly sending a whole flock of birds flying off.

"Run away!" cried a parrot. "Tweety Bird is gonna blow!"

"I HEARD THAT!" yelled Nico, but he stopped when his love went closer to him.

"Honey, first of all, relax... and second, where's Carlos?" Flora asked, trying to calm down her boyfriend.

Nico breathed-in deeply, and began to speak once again... well, not speak, but more of a scream, actually.

"Alright... SOMEONE KIDNAPPED CARLOS!"

"WHAT?" Both Rafael and Flora yelled, both of their eyes flinging open like window shutters.

Flora quickly grabbed Nico and glared at him.

"Nico, Carlos was KIDNAPPED? How could you have possibly let that happen?" Flora yelled angrily, but was also shaking him like a rag doll.

"Ho... ney..." gasped Nico, talking in between his spins. "I... am... getting... diiiizzzzyy..."

Flora released her boyfriend, who spun around a few times, before landing in the grass.

A few minutes later, after Nico was feeling better, the guilty-feeling bird sighed, and told his story.

"I only flew away for 5 seconds to free up this finch! I came back and all that was left was his feather and some black one!" Nico exclaimed, his head about ready to explode from the millions of things he was thinking of at the moment.

"Wait a minute..." said Rafael. "Black feather?"

"Yeah," replied Nico. "Oh, and just in case anyone asks, it's from the Raven of that Poe guy."

"No, wait, buddy," cried Rafael. "You remember what happened a couple years ago when Nigel first came back?"

"Huh?" Nico said, confused. "You mean when we got lost in the Amazon?"

"No, remember, it was when Carlos was born?" Rafael said, a small thought flickering off to a flame in his mind.

Nico hesitated for a moment, thinking back to the past, and then, his eyes widened in horror at the realization of who the culprit was.

Both the toucan and canary looked at each other, and they said his name at the same time.

"VITO..."

...

"Someone's about to get killed!" A voice yelled from behind the cockatoo as Nigel suddenly felt the whole force of a small bird smash into his head and knocked him to floor of the van.

The prisoner birds looked up to see who it was, and they all cried, "Pedro?"

"Yeah, man!" cried Pedro. "Whoo-man, I've been wanting to do that for a LONG time!"

"Great job," said Jewel. "Now, before he gets up, you... what the?"

For some reason, Pedro (who was a little too pleased with himself) began to sing to himself.

_I've got jungle fever, she's got jungle fever_  
><em>We've got jungle fever, we're in love<em>  
><em>She's gone black-boy crazy, I've gone white-girl hazy<em>  
><em>Ain't no thinking maybe, we're in love<em>

_She's got jungle fever, I've got jungle fever_  
><em>We've got jungle fever, we're in love<em>  
><em>I've gone white-girl crazy, she's gone black-boy hazy<em>  
><em>We're each other's baby, we're in love!<em>

"PEDRO!" yelled Robyn, Jez, and Jewel. "We're still in the cages!"

...

Nigel rose to his feet swiftly, and then spun around to face the two red-crested cardinals from the Amazon, as well as a pigeon quickly working to break the other birds out. Nigel growled angrily and quickly blasted towards the pigeon, who was swiftly working to break the lock on the cage containing Arthur and Jez.

"I'm almost done here, Artie!" Bobby stuttered quickly, fiddling with the lock until he suddenly was smashed head first into one of the bars, a ear-piercing crack echoing into Bobby's ears. The pigeon wasn't able to blink before he was suddenly spun around to face Nigel, who currently looked like he was ready to rip the pigeon in two.

"Uh oh...Hi man! You ain't ganna eat me, are ya?" Bobby said with a nervous laugh as the cockatoo suddenly sported as sly smile.

"No, I don't care too much for Brooklyn poop machines..." Nigel said, ready to extend out of his claw to slash through Bobby, when the pigeon suddenly growled angrily, and surprisingly smashed Nigel's head witha nearby crowbar, sending the cockatoo flying across the van.

"Don't you EVER call me a poop machine!" Bobby yelled angrily. Bobby quickly turned back to the cage and began to fiddle quickly with the lock.

"Bob-O...How did you do that?" Arthu asked, the Spix's face marked with disbelief, as well as everyone else. Bobby shrugged with a confused expression, and continued to try and undo the lock.

...

"Oh, sorry," said Pedro, and he flew over to Blu's cage. "Okay, man, now it's my time to bust this... buddy?"

"What's wro... oh, no!" gasped Robyn, who (along with Pedro) had a shocked face after seeing the injured Macaw.

Unfortunately, Pedro gulped, feeling cold and weird, and he said, "Uh... is he behind me?"

"Yep," said Nigel, and he laughed maniacally as he grabbed the two cardinal birds, smacking them around until he ended up putting them in the cage with Blu and Jewel.

As for Bobby, the little bird was hiding underneath a blanket, and watched as Arthur cried, "Why do you do things like this, you maniac?"

"Because, my tasty entree," replied Nigel. "I have a belief..."

"Oh, yeah, what's that?" said Blu. "That you hope not to be on that rack in El Pollo Loco?"

Arthur laughed, and said, "Nice one, amigo... wait, what is that?"

Nigel rolled his eyes, and said, "I believe that whatever doesn't kill you, Brazillian birds... it simply makes you stronger. And, I enjoy having power!...Now, where's that little pigeon who just aggrevated me..."

"Bobby, run!" Both Jez and Arthur yelled out, the pigeon suddenly making a fast break for it out from under his blanket hiding-place as soon as his eyes met the cockatoo's from across the van. Bobby quickly flew through the small crack of space of the van's backdoor, and Bobby finally shut the door to the van, to which a loud thud from behind the door followed.

"...I gotta get help...I gotta go get Rafie and Nico!" Bobby finally said after a few seconds of deep-breathing. Bobby suddenly realized he had no idea where the guys were going in the first place. The pigeon carefully peaked his head around the side of the van to see if the guys in the van had noticed the commotion, and then thought for a moment on what he was going to do.

"Wait a minute...They were talkin' about Cher...The only place a washed-up star like that could sing is..."

"...Las Vegas!"

Bobby quickly flew above the now-moving van and began to fly off in search of a way back to Rio de Janeiro to find the only people he knew that could help him...But Bobby decided to leave a little present for the guys driving...

...

"So, you going to buy the tickets?" Larry asked as he slowly drove along, the only thing he was focusing on was the money they were about to earn when they got back to Vegas.

"Yeah, I guess so...Awh man!" Gordon whined, suddenly seeing a splat corres the window-shield. As it turned out, some bird has just left a nice, white poop right on the windowshield.

"C'mon! I just got this thing washed!"

...

"Hey, I guess I am a poop machine! Haha!"

...

**A/N: Sorry that I kept you waiting so long! We needed to do alot of editing for the final few parts of the fic, but hopefully you end up enjoying it! Once again, any criticism is accepted as long as it's constructive. This is my (And hopefulky Project NICK's!) dream project, and I want to make this a fic I love, as well as all of you awesome readers! **

**So...READ, ENJOY AND REVIEW!**


	3. Beauty of Adventure

**Hello once again everyone!**

**Sorry that this chapter has been delayed for so long! Lots of work for the summer on my plate right now, as well as Project NICK, who also has tons of work for himself. Meanwhile, Rio is almost on DVD here in the States! Can't wait until August 2nd!**

**Finally, I hope you can accept that we've taken awhile, and most of all, ENJOY OUR EFFORTS!**

...

Rio: Fear and Feathers in Las Vegas

Chapter 3

Beauty of Adventure

_"Wake up..."_

Blu still felt hazy from the occurences in the past hour. It almost felt like he'd been asleep for hours. Days, even. All he could remember was a ton of commotion, and an extreme soreness in his wing. In fact, he could still feel the sensation now.

_"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty..."_

"Jewel? Is that you?" Blu asked sleepily.

_"Just wake up, cerulean."_

At the mention of "cerulean", Blu immeadiatley recognized the gravelly voice of Nigel. Blu opened his eyes wide open and finally could make out the shape of Nigel's sinister smile.

"Oh, it's just you..." Blu said angrily, still feeling the mind-numbing pain in his wing. The Spix macaw had actually started to think Nigel may have broken his wing...and if that were the case...

"Yes, it's just your favorite cockatoo in the world, cerulean." Nigel chuckled to himself as he paced back and forth in front of the cage. Blu then let out a low, fake laugh.

"Ha, that's so funny I forgot to laugh..." Blu said as he rolled his eyes with a clever smile. All of the sudden, Blu jumped when Nigel slammed into the cage he was sitting and grabbed Blu by his throat through the bars of the cage.

"You won't be able to laugh..._or let alone breath _when I'm done with you, my good friend." Nigel said with a low, sinister tone as he sharpened his grip on the now-gagging Blu. Finally, Nigel let go with his trademark cackle and then walked away, leaving Blu to try to regain his breath.

"Man, I hate that guy...You okay...Jewel?" Blu said to himself, suddenly noticing that Jewel wasn't in his cage as she was only a few hours ago. Blu's eyes shot open and frantically spun around the cage, looking for any trace of his mate.

"What did you do to Jewel?" Blu yelled accusingly, his tone an uncharacteristic angry one. Nigel muttered under his breath and then spun around.

"I seperated you two for a bit. I didn't want any funny business going on...after all, we have so many things to catch up on!" Nigel laughed lowly with a smile. Blu then noticed a cage from across the room that stored Jewel, who was currently asleep at the moment. Blu let out a shakey sigh, still feeling fear at Nigel possibly doing something to either of them.

"No offense Bad, Bad and Ugly, but I don't think cages are too romantic." Arthur commented from his cage from across Blu. Nigel growled at the reporter-bird's comments. Nigel hadn't exactly thought Arthur would be such an annoyance. At least he wasn't doing much else besides talk, Nigel thought to himself.

"I meant that they would try to escape! With no damsal at his side, what is a hero, hmm?" Nigel asked with his accent purring itself straight into Blu's eardrums like a nest of bees.

"Like you'll keep us from getting out here. We'll get out of this van just like we've gotten out of every other cage you've put us in." Blu guranteed with resiliancy in his voice. Nigel chuckled to himself and shook his head as if he held pity for the Spix macaw.

"Check that, Air-for-Brains. We left the van hours ago. We're now in an airplane heading straight for our destination." Nigel said with a smile. Blu suddenly noticed that they were indeed in a completely different storage area. Instead of just them, there were now about 10 more cages to the right of the group, filled to the brim with canaries, ducks and even owls.

"Oh," Blu said softly, feeling somewhat embarassed at his mistake.

"Sweet nightmares, ladies. Don't ask for peanuts, either." Nigel cackled as he walked through a small door seperating the storage area and the cockpit.

"Man, I hate that creep..." Pedro commented. Blu rested his head back down, his mind swirling with millions of thoughts. What was a romantic honeymoon between him and Jewel had turned into getting trapped in cages in a plane heading who knows where. He almost felt like it was all his fault for getting Jewel and everyone into a situation that he had caused by getting Nigel de-feathered back in the Amazon. In fact, everything between the cockatoo and himself had sparked this. The plane in Rio, Vito and the mafia, the Amazon...it all just balled itself into an array of guilt upon the Spix's head and reasons to seek revenge on him and his friends for Nigel.

"Yo Blu, you got any ideas on how to get out?" Wally asked as he examined the bars on the cage. Blu tried to think of any way to escape, but it seemed almost full-proof this time. The cage he was in was completely locked, not allowing any means of escape without a makeshift key of some sort, and with his possibly-broken wing, Blu couldn't see any way he could break out.

"Wally, I think we're going to have to get used to this for a bit, because I can't find anything that could get us out of here..." Blu sighed as he stared at Jewel from his cage, at least wanting to brave through this in the same cage as her. Wally sighed in response and then rested his head on a bar on the cage.

"Don't worry about it, Blu. We'll find some way out of this..." Jez assured in a comforting tone, but Blu still felt awful. Maybe it was the guilt, maybe it was the pain he felt in his wing. Either way, all of it was tearing him apart inside.

"I just feel bad. I keep thinking this is all my fault for getting us stuck into all of this Nigel stuff again." Blu replied as he continued to watch his mate from his cage.

"Don't think that way amigo! We'll find some way out of this...Just rest a bit..." Arthur answered as he tapped on the cage bar, inspecting for any weak points.

"Thanks Artie..."

...

Meanwhile, Bobby was flying across mountaintop after mountaintop towards Rio de Janeiro, frantic to spread the news to his other friends that everyone had been birdnapped. Every landmark that Bobby had laid eyes on when Wally, Arthur and him had flown to Niagra Falls was completely omitted from his mind. Flying colors of green, blue and...a black bird carrying something continously zipped past Bobby, until Bobby finally was able to spot the jungle that Blu, Jewel and the rest of the gang lived in, and Bobby quickly rushed faster, his wings feeling as if they were ready to rip off and take on a life of their own. Bobby finally reached the inside of the jungle, and loudly began yelling for his friends.

"Nico!...Rafael!..Guys! I need your help! Big...trouble!" Bobby said, frequently gasping for air after every name was called. Bobby finally spotted the familiar, small yellow dots of Nico and Flora, and he finally crashed into the ground, landing in front of Rafael in a daze.

"Jeez Bobby! You really need to learn how to stick the dismount..." Nico exclaimed as helped pull up Bobby, who's eyes were rapidly spinning and turning frantically.

"Woah amigo, what's the matter?" Rafael asked, grabbing Bobby to hault his shaking and vibrating.

"LOTS OF THINGS ARE THE MATTER!" Bobby screamed out, his yelling echoing practically across the entire city. Rafael, Nico and Flora quickly backed off in shock, the exploding pigeon beginning to become frantic in his movement and his constant nervous mumbling making him sound unstable.

"Woah man, take it easy! What the heck happened?...And where's the other guys?" Nico said calmly. Bobby jumped at the mention of the rest of the birds, and he finally screamed out the answer to the past few questions.

"Blu and the guys got birdnapped!" Bobby yelled, the new realization slapping everyone across the face mentally like a glove.

"See what happened Nico? Now that poor Carlos is kidnapped and now the guys too!" Flora said as if Nico was the cause of it all.

"Hey! Hey! I may have lost Carlos, but it's not like I was the one who let the others get birdnapped!" Nico said in defense, when everyone suddenly realized what _that _could be blamed on. Bobby suddenly felt the looks of three birds staring at him, not counting the blue macaw kids who were distracted at the moment by a butterfly passing by.

"What? Me, Pedro and Robyn tried savin' 'em, but that crazy cockatoo threw them into cages! He almost woulda had me if I didn't get the heck outta there!" Bobby said nervously. Nico and Flora both gasped at the mention of Pedro and Robyn being thrown into cages, and Nico suddenly donned a surprisingly angry look.

"No one throws my best bud into a cage! It's on now!" Nico said, looking ready to pound the daylights out of Nigel.

"You have any idea where they were going?" Rafael asked, ignoring the angry canary next to him.

"The guys who captured him were headin' to Vegas, I think. We gotta get there quick if we wanna catch up!" Bobby exclaimed frantically.

"Then let's go! We gotta find that nasty old crow too!" Flora insisted, quickly beginning to take off to the skies. Bobby expressed clear confusion at this statement, to which Rafael then glanced at the now-guilty looking Nico.

"Eh...Carlos kinda got kidnapped by that crow from the bird mafia..." Nico said, his face looking like a guilty child. Bobby thought for a moment, and he suddenly realized what the black bird from before was...

"Oh man! I saw him when I was flyin' over here...Aw man, now I feel guilt!" Bobby cried, his tone sounding like a five-year old kid.

"Look, you stay here with Eva and watch over the _ninos _. We'll go find Carlos and the rest of our amigos!" Rafael exclaimed as he quickly took off to the sky along with Nico, Flora and the Macaw kids.

"Wait, I have to watch kids? I didn't agree to this!" Bobby yelled out, his mind suddenly realizing..._he was going to be a babysitter..._

"Man Rafy, I don't know anything about kids...'cept that they make some nasty messes..."

...

Blu's eyes popped open after what seemed like hours of sleep. The Spix macaw raised his head to find his friends, still sitting in the same cages with the same looks of despair in their faces.

"We didn't get very far, did we?" Blu asked hazily, noticing not a single thing had moved. Arthur sighed deeply and then knocked on the bars of his cage angrily.

"We checked, buddy...There ain't any way to get out of these cages without some kind of key..." Arthur said sadly. Blu laid his head back down in almost-agony, not knowing what came next for him. Blu wasn't sure if he was even going to be alive much longer. It had supposedly been a day already (Judging by the window down the side of the storage area of the plane) and he hadn't eaten at all, and the simple fact he was as far as he'd ever been from Rio de Janeiro or Linda than he'd ever been made his stomach churn in agony. Even still, wherever he was heading, he may be killed right after arrival. He could be turned into a coat or ripped open and stuffed or turned into one of those performing birds in those wildlife shows he disliked so much. All of this thinking didn't help ease him at all, and the simple fear and guilt and lonliness was tearing him to bits...and the thought of possibly never being able to fly again ate away at any innocent thoughts he had left.

"I'm sorry guys...for everything. I just wish I could think of some way to get us out of here..." Blu said with his usual emphasis in his voice dying into a sqweak now. Unknown to the group, an owl from a cage nearby had overheard their conversation and listening in attentively.

"Perhaps thinking is not what you should do?" The owl suggested, suddenly bringing himself to attention to the birds.

"Perhaps it is bad to think too much?"

"Ha...you're starting to sound like a friend of mine who told me I think too much..." Blu said with a small laugh. The owl, however, didn't make a single emotional move. The owl looked tattered and showed his age, his brown and white feathers looking worn and obviously used for more than 30 good years.

"I wouldn't laugh at what is true...You do indeed think too much...From what I've observed, at least." The owl said, his voice flowing with a tone of knowledge and wisdom.

"Hey, who are you to make fun of my bud? He's going through alot right now!" Arthur fired to the owl, who simply reacted with a disapproving look from his big, round, intelligent-looking eyes.

"When I was young, my mother taught me not to think with my brain, but to think with _this_." The owl said slowly, motioning to where his heart was. "She told me that it was important for the fact it saw all reason, and saw what compassion truly was and was what made you who you are. If anything, Blu here should be using his main point of reason, not his brain, to solve what is wrong here and do what is right."

"His utter?" Wally asked, obviously confused at what the owl meant when he pointed at his heart. Robyn simply replied with a groan and a deep frown.

"Were you dropped on your head as a chick?" Robyn asked with a stern expression. Wally and Arthur both gasped in shock, as if insulted, but then Wally laughed heartily.

"How'd ya know?" Wally asked, his goofy smile on his beak reassuring Arthur he didn't feel insulted.

"Psychic powers." Robyn fired back.

"What I'm trying to say is, you must learn to follow your heart. It's the part of you that knows the most and sees the most." The owl said sternly. Blu thought to himself slowly, and then quickly answered back.

"But I already know that. That's how I ended up with Jewel...three years ago..."

"Exactly. You must realize, young man, that you've forgotten that your heart is what leads you through your life. I'm sorry if I sound so blunt, but you must listen to your heart and realize that's what is what truly matters, not what your brain thinks of it all." The owl explained. Blu suddenly realized that what this strange owl was saying was absolutely true. Blu had completely forgotten about what Rafael and Jewel had taught him all those years back when he first came to Rio.

"You know something...He's right." Blu said thoughtfully, picking his head up and his voice gaining strength again.

"He is, buddy. Now, how exactly are we going to get out of here?" Arthur responded, scanning the floor for anything he could use to break out.

"Easy. I've had a paperclip to open this up the entire time..." The old owl laughed as he fiddled with a paper clip and easily opened his cage's lock.

"Why didn't you tell us that in the first place?" Jez asked, sounding somewhat irritated that the owl was playing them the whole time. The owl chuckled lightly, sounding as if he was having a fun time in it all.

"Well then your little blue friend here wouldn't have learned anything, now would he?" The owl laughed as he popped his cage door open and hopped out.

"Doesn't give him the excuse to be playin' us...Pedro don't get played..." Pedro said with a frown.

"Just calm down. We'll all be free to fly out in no time..." The owl said with an easy tone as he smashed the lock on Blu's cage open and swung the door open. Blu attempted to walk out, but he then smashed to the floor as he let out a groan.

"That's the problem...I can't exactly fly." Blu groaned, displaying his damaged wing to the owl. The owl reacted with a look of sympathy, recognizing the damage done.

"Well...We'll figure it out." The owl assured as he walked off towards Pedro and Robyn.

"How come Jewel has slept through all of this?" Wally said to no one in particular, noticing the female Spix macaw had indeed slept through everything in the last few minutes. However, Blu noticed this as well and slowly walked over.

"Jewel? Are you okay? Honey?" Blu said quietly, tapping one of the cage bars. Jewel reacted slowly as she opened her eyes lightly, and then noticed Blu in front of her.

"Blu? How are you out of your cage?" Jewel asked, still half-asleep but confused about what was going on.

"We're breaking out, Jewel. We're going back to Rio and living the rest of our life together in peace." Blu said lightly, sounding like everything would be perfect.

"But Blu, you can't fly with that wing. How are we going to get out? We can't just leave you here!" Jewel protested loudly. Arthur meanwhile was wondering how Nigel could possibly not hear their conversation going on.

"Remember what you said three years ago in the plane? That we'd figure this out..._together_?" Blu asked, his voice finally carrying emotion after a few hours of nothing in his voice.

"The same applies for now. I'm not going to let go of you..."

"I hate to not leave a tender moment alone, but we have to hurry. That demon cockatoo could come back at any moment..." The owl said ominously as he tore the door to Pedro and Robyn's cage open.

"Right...So, what exactly are we going to do about me not being able to fly and the fact we're one thousand feet up and millions of miles from Rio?" Blu asked as attempted to pick the lock on Jewel's cage.

"Lad, you go on what the greatest birds desire. What every explorer has experienced. The biggest thrill of a lifetime!" The owl exclaimed excitedly. However, Blu and Jewel both exchanged confused looks.

"That would be?..." Jewel asked slowly.

"A quest! A journey! An adventure!" The owl exclaimed with a wild smile, something Blu didn't expect out of the seemingly-dignified owl.

"Adventures?...Uh...we've kinda had enough of that for our life..." Blu said with a small smile and weak laugh.

"Oh come come...Every bird has to have his adventure in his life. After all, there is no hero to a story without an adventure to call his own." The owl explained, wrapping his wing around like he was his best chum.

"You make it sound like it's such an incredible thing when there's so much pain and sorrow involved...did I mention pain?" Blu said nervously. The owl rolled his eyes and then smiled.

"My blue friend, adventure is a wonderful thing! A quest to find what you seek. A journey to find your way to the goal! Dodging the challenges, the thrill of the chase, it's all grand! You should feel lucky! There are only so many birds in this world who can have more than one grand adventure in their lifetime!" The owl exclaimed.

"This guy seems a little off his rocker..." Jewel whispered to Blu, who nodded slightly in agreement.

"I heard that..." The owl said with a sly smile, which Blu responded to with a sheepish smile.

"Hey buddy, you mind getting off the adventure rant and cracking us out of these things?" Arthur asked with an annoyed tone, but his statement went without notice of the now-excited owl, who suddenly felt a strange sensation...in fact, he suddenly started to speak as if he was ready to sing...

"All you need is a map and a spirit for it, and adventure can be the greatest thing that could happen!" The owl exclaimed. Blu could already tell where this was heading, and was ready to interject.

"Please don't start singing..." Blu began, but he was too late as the owl was already set on singing.

_Today's the day_

_in only a matter of moments you'll all be on your way!_

_What lurks around the corner? None of us can say..._

_But I can guess, more or less,_

_hidden dangers great to rest._

_The moment of glory is close at hand!_

_Hoo wee, isn't it grand?_

"Well this is great..." Jewel groaned as the owl danced around, seeming out of his character from what Blu had seen.

_Adventure is a wonderful thing!_

_Pack only the essentials, I'll tell you what to bring!_

_Your strength!_

_Your nerves!_

_Your hearts! _

_Your wits!_

_And if vultures attack, the first aid kits!_

_Adventure is a hoot and a half!_

_You'll face un-Earthly dangers and look at them and laugh!_

_The claws!_

_The teeth!_

_The chase, the thrill!_

_You'll never want to go home. Maybe you never will!_

_That's the beauty of adventure, it keeps your hopes afloat!_

_It runs you 'till your ragged and then it grabs you by the throat!_

_You struggle to survive and you all stay so bold!_

_Woo-hoo, lucky you!_

_Wish I could come too!_

_Adventure is a wonderful thing!_

"You aren't exactly proving anything besides that you love the idea of danger..." Blu said flatly.

"It's not about the danger, dear boy. It's about the simple thrill of it all! What you can accomplish and what you face! It shows what you've been missing and gives you strength! After all, look at what your last adventures have brought you." The owl said with a smile, motioning to Jewel and then to Pedro and the rest of the guys.

"You really think so?" Blu asked, now starting to grasp what the owl meant by it all.

"I know so! I've never had the oppurtunity to take a quest, which is likely why I've never met the friends I needed so...but you still have the years ahead of you! You've already found so many treasure along the way, and more are ahead when you go on an adventure!" The owl exclaimed giddily.

"...And that's the beauty of adventure..." Blu said with a smile of realization.

"Now you've got it!"

_And you, General Blu!_

_Off you go!_

_Marching high and low,_

_with your friends until the end!_

All of the sudden, the seemingly-musically gifted owl quickly whipped out a huge mape of the world and drew a circle around the small area that was labelled 'Rio de Janeiro'.

_Take a look, the map is perfectly clear!_

_With your excellent sense of direction, you have nothing to fear._

_Through the quicksand and the chasms!_

_Tempting fate and fighting spasms!_

_Dodging avalanching boulders, but remember,_

_the fate of you and your friends rest completely on your shoulders..._

"Wait, completely on my shoulders..." Blu started, but was quickly cut off by the singing owl once more.

_It's up to you!_

_That's the beauty of adventure, the treasure after the dread!_

_I can't think of another thing I'd rather do instead!_

"If you feel that way, maybe you should come along?" Arthur chipped in, actually starting to enjoy this little routine of the owl's.

_No, you go ahead!_

The owl suddenly flew up to a small lever above a group of crates and pulled it down, suddenly causing a metallic sound to echo through the plane.

"He just opened the storage hatch didn't he?" Jewel groaned. As it turned out, the storage hatch to the plane began to open, the immense sunlight suddenly flooding the entire room and momentarily blinding everyone.

"You forgot to unlock our cages, dude!" Wally yelled out as he suddenly felt the cage that held him, Arthur and Jez begin to lurch towards the open door. The same began to occur to everyone else still in cages.

"Oops..." The owl said embarassingly as he smiled sheepishly. Blu quickly grabbed onto Jewel's cage as he quickly slid down towards the hatch door.

"Blu, do something!" Jewel exclaimed right as both Spix macaws flew off the edge of the plane's hatch door. Arthur and Wally both glanced at each other in horror as they watched the two disappear from sight.

"I DON'T WANNA DIE, ARTIE!" Wally screamed out as he grabbed tightly onto Arthur. While Pedro and Robyn were frantically trying to open the lock holding Jez, Arthur and Wally, the cage suddenly tipped over the edge, and it quickly began plummeting out of the plane and into the cloudy blue sky.

"I WANT MY MOMMY!" Arthur shrieked like a little girl as the cage quickly plummeted down through the sky.

Meanwhile from the plane above, the owl slowly poked his head over the plane with a scared expression, realizing how badly he'd just screwed up.

"Oh dear...Good luck to you all!" The owl called out sheepishly. All of the sudden, the old owl was smashed to the floor by none other than the sulfur-crested cockatoo himself.

"Very nice move, you dumb little owl. You made my life a whole lot easier by killing them..." Nigel said with a chuckle.

"You do realize they're not dead...and with the kind of souls they have, they'll figure out some way out of their perdicament...I hope..." The owl fired back.

"If that's the case, I suppose it's time for me to turn you into a bloody pulp, hmm?" Nigel said as he popped out his talons and his villianous smile as he walked slowly towards the owl.

"Oh dear...Good luck to you, my friends...You'll need it..."

"Good-as-dead birds don't need luck, silly owl..."

...

**A/N: I'm glad to be able to update this story once more! I felt empty with this story being not being updated for so long, but now I can feel accomplished a bit! So...READ, ENJOY AND REVIEW!**

**P.S.**

**That song sung by the owl isn't actually written by me. In fact, it's from the movie "Pooh's Grand Adventure". I just found it an absolutely fitting song for this fic, so I figured "What the heck?" and added it right in there! Hope you enjoyed it, and I encourage you to at least look up the song on Youtube. It's officially called "Adventure is a Wonderful Thing".**


	4. Welcome to Paradise, Nevada

**Hello, hello amigos!**

**To start off, I'm INCREDIBLY happy that Rio has finally been released on DVD, iTunes, etc! Can't wait to watch it routinely!**

**Next, I currently have a huge array of stories lined up. While I am doing this fic, I may occasionally take short breaks to work on the other fics. Believe me, however, I plan on updating as frequent as I can! After all, I have Rio on my side, and with the greatest movie ever next to me, how can I NOT be able to be inspired? Haha!**

**Also, as you may or may not have noticed...Brazilian Macaw Theater 3000 is gone...and when I mean gone, I mean deleted by the site. I'm not happy, and I'm sure you're not...but I have future plans for another one...So look out for that, my friends, ;)**

**I also need to thank certain people here as well. I need to thank both Master Derek and Charlie B. Barkin on the Rio de Janeiro discussion boards. I thank Derek for requesting me to be a Mod, and Charlie for allowing me to hold the position! I've wanted to serve the Rio community in a huge way since Rio fics started popping up on here, and I can't wait to become a huge part of it in the future!**

**And finally, I NEED to advise you that this chapter is VERY long. I was going to split this chapter into 2 chapters, but I decided that we might as well get a huge chunk of the story out of the way, so here's an INCREDIBLY LONG chapter that we've labored on for weeks! Through hurricanes, earthquakes, power outtages, modships, and a summer vacation of strange occurences, I present you the fruit of me and Project NICK's labors! CHAPTER 4!**

**...**

**Chapter 4**

**Welcome to Paradise...Nevada**

Meanwhile, high above Rio was a small, shadowy figure that seemed to be thundering across the sky as fast as he possibly could. This figure turned out to be a certain crow named Vito, a name normally met with gasps and feelings of respect. Now, however, this name was received with a little more than a scoff.

Only a few years back, Blu and Jewel had encountered this exact crow, only he had more than just himself to help him. Vito was originally the leader of a mafia family of birds in Rio de Janeiro. During this time, Vito had begun to build a reputation as the most respected and yet one of the most feared birds in Rio. While this had been the case for the longest time, his position had begun to break down once he met a young red-crested cardinal named Robyn, who just happened to now be Pedro's mate. Vito was then hired, along with his family, to dispose of Blu and Jewel once the cockatoo Nigel returned to try to capture the two Spix macaws. Soon after failing to achieve this goal, Vito began to lose every connection he had to a respectable stature, until finally he was forced to leave Rio because of how little reputation he had left.

However, his current plan was absolutely devious, and his attitude was simply set one thing..._revenge. _Revenge on Blu, Jewel and the entire Spix macaw family that remained. Currently, he was carrying a small bag that contained none other than the little Spix chick Carlos, the first act in what Vito called his "Big Scheme".

Vito's expression on his beak remained stone-cold as he flew along quickly, determination dead-set into his eyes.

"Stupid canary...I knew he wouldn't be able to resist helping that scaredy bird. Let's see him act like a big shot when he gets fooled..." Vito smirked to himself as he tugged the small bag with a squirming macaw chick stuck inside along with him.

"Now let's see...I kidnapped their precious little kid, left their friends in the dust...now to lure them into the belly of the beast..." Vito muttered to himself with a sly smile, calculating in his mind every twist and turn he had planned in his...plan.

"This is full-proof...Vito, you're such a genius..." Vito chuckled to himself.

"Says the crow talking to himself..." Carlos piped-in with a muffled tone from the bag in Vito's claws.

"Humph...you little brat..." Vito groaned as he heartlessly kicked his claw into the bag, making solid contact into Carlos.

"Now, go back to being the silent piece of garbage you were when I almost disposed of you..." Vito groaned as he began to flap faster, obviously trying to end this headache.

"It takes a bird who lived in trash to know trash..." Carlos replied. Vito simply scowled deeper and then slammed his foot into the bag once more.

"You take after your father...a huge idiot and putting heart before brains...I like that...It'll get you killed easier."

...

Blu could barely even think about what was going on elsewhere, because currently he was hanging on for dear life as he and his caged mate Jewel plummeted about 5,000 feet towards what seemed like iminant doom after the owl they met had accidentally unopened the plane's cargo latch.

"Blu, you have an bright ideas before we become blue pancakes?" Jewel managed to shout out as the two barrelled out of the sky like led bricks. Blu could barely hear anything besides his pounding heart beat as he finally realized the situation he was in. He was unable to fly, he was plummeting 5,000 feet, and his mate was trapped in a cage falling with him. Blu desperately began to fumbling with the lock holding Jewel in, his claws nervously slipping at every second. After all, how would you be able to concentrate while falling from thousands of feet?

"Blu, just relax!...I'm right here..." Jewel suddenly said, sounding surprisingly calm in such a situation they were in. Blu was just about to point this out before Jewel suddenly leaned forward and kissed Blu, his eyes popping open in the same fashion when she first did it. In fact, it all seemed too similar to Blu and Jewel...

Suddenly, as if on que, Blu popped the lock open, the opening even surprising Blu. Jewel quickly tumbled out of the cage, landing right onto Blu and sending the two somersaulting even closer to the ground.

"Now what do we do?" Blu yelled out as the two continued falling closer towards the ground below.

"How's about I be the hero this time and save us, hmm?" Jewel said with a smile as she quickly flapped her wings and suddenly the two began to slow down in falling speed, until suddenly Blu felt the two land on the...incredibly-hot and rocky surface.

"Well, I think I've had my share of terrifying experiences for the day..." Blu said as he brushed himself off and then winced once he reached his possibly-broken wing.

"Hey, where's the others?" Jewel asked, referring to their friends that they had last seen back in the plane. Jewel's question was immeadiatley answered, as a loud screaming came echoing from above. As if on que, the reporter-bird Arthur then fell out from the clouds into view of Blu and Jewel, and then miraciously landed on a mattres only about 5 feet away from the two.

"Ow...That's the last time I skydive without a parachute..." Arthur muttered as he rubbed his aching head. Arthur's eyes shot open when he heard screaming coming from above him, and suddenly Jez came falling right from above him. Arthur, almost without thinking, dived forward and quickly caught the other Spix macaw in his wings.

"Wow...Nice to catch up with you, hehe..." Arthur said, his tone shakey and his eyes moving rapidly as if he was ready to melt right there.

"Nice catch, Artie..." Jez said with a smile, suddenly melting Arthur emotionally even more.

"Aww, it was nothin' Just a bit of athletic ability and anyone could've done it...but thanks." Arthur stuttered, his voice cracking in nervousness in the prescence of a bird he was affectionate to. Before Jez could reply, another loud yell pierced across the sky, and then the source of it, Wally, then crashed on top of Arthur, the impact popping Jez out of Artie's wings and the reporter-bird feeling sore.

"You okay Arthur?" Blu asked as he scampered over to the mattress and helped Arthur out from under Wally.

"A little sore...but at least I got somewhere with your sis, eh?" Arthur said with a innocent smile on his face, to which Blu stared blankly at Arthur as if voicelessly scolding him.

"...Oh, sorry."

"Hey, where's Pedro and Robyn?" Blu asked, ignoring the exchange in the last few seconds. Immeadiatley after this, Pedro quickly popped his head out from above Blu.

"Right here, blue bird!" Pedro exclaimed energetically.

"Yeah, thanks to that owl. If Blu hadn't opened my cage, we'd both be blueberry pancakes on the highway..." Jewel groaned, still not happy about the owl they met just a few minutes before.

"Amen to that, sister," agreed Arthur. "Now, uh, where the heck are we?"

Wally looked around the desert-like landscape, and said, "Hmmm... I think we're in Arizona."

However, Arthur shook his head. "No way, that's impossible..."

"Oh, really?" Wally crossed his wings, and faced his friend. "And, uh, who are you... Dora the Explorer?"

"Cute," said Arthur. "Look, I know exactly where we are, and it ain't Phoenix... we're in Egypt."

Wally laughed, and said, "Egypt! Oh, gosh... dude, do you SEE a giant cat statue or a bunch of towering pyramids anywhere?"

"I didn't finish," growled Arthur. "We're in the 'middle' of Egypt... I bet if we go closer, we can see at least one of the pyramids."

"Oh, sure..." said Wally. "So, we should believe a dead reporter's bird that we are in Egypt?"

Arthur frowned, and said, "Don't push it... besides, you should talk, seagull."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you know, man," said Arthur. "All you birds do is go 'mine, mine, mine, mine', and look for crabs or fishes to eat!"

Wally frowned, and said, "Hey, that's not MY family, okay? We just look alike!"

Arthur laughed, and cried, "Dude, they are! There's not another type of seagull!"

"Oh, yeah?" cried Wally. "Well... uh... you used to wet the bed!"

When the seagull said that, Jewel and Jez began to chuckle, and Arthur yelled, "It's on now, white meat!"

"Bring it on, old man, bring it on!" yelled Wally, and at once, the two birds tackled each other, and began to wrestle on the ground.

Robyn, looking concerned, asked, "Shouldn't you do something, honey?"

"What for?" laughed Pedro. "These guys do stuff like this all the time... besides, I need a good laugh."

Jewel turned to Blu, who was smiling as he watched the bird fight, but after noticing her staring at him, he said, "What?"

"You know what I mean," said Jewel. "Go in there, and stop them!"

"ME?" said Blu, with his eyes becoming wide. "Jewel, have you forgotten that I got my wing broken 'again' by Nigel?"

"Yeah, so?" said Jewel. "It doesn't mean you're handicapped... look, this isn't the time to fight, Blu, so, please, stop them."

Blu tried to argue, but when Jewel held up a feather, he said, "Oh, all right... hey, guys, come on, knock it off!"

The two birds ignored him, so the young Macaw went a little closer, saying, "No, seriously, guys, come on, we need to stick together, stop this."

"One... second... amigo!" growled Arthur, who was gaining the advantage, but then, Wally got him in a head-lock. "Darn it!"

Blu looked back at Jewel, who urged him to continue, so he went closer to the two friends, and said, "Guys, if you don't stop in 3 seconds, I'm going to... whoa!"

All of a sudden, Wally got a sudden burst of strength, and tossed Arthur at Blu, with both of them flying a few miles across the desert-like ground.

"Blu!" Jewel quickly flew over to her mate, followed by the others, and when she reached him, she asked, "Honey, are you okay?"

As she helped him up, the young Macaw could see a bunch of planets twirling around his head, and in a dizzying voice, he sang, "Neptune, Mars, Saturn, Pluto..."

Then, Blu fell back down the ground, while Wally went over to Arthur, and cried, "You got knocked the heck out! Ha, ha, ha... whoa!"

While the two were arguing with each other again, Jewel nudged Blu's body, and said, "Blu? You okay?"

"Uh..." In a slow move, the young Macaw began to get up, and after shaking his head, he replied, "Yeah, er, I'm fine... "

"Are you sure?" asked Jewel. "Look, Blu, maybe you should lie down, and rest."

"Rest?" said Blu. "I may have a broken wing, but I'm not handicapped, for Pete's sake!"

"No need to ruffle your feathers over it..." Jewel grumbled as Blu got up.

"Quite frankly, there is a need to! I got you all into another one of my messes and even worse, I've gotten my wing broken in the process and made friends with an owl who almost killed us all!" Blu exclaimed angrily as paced around constantly in circles.

"You couldn't have possibly predicted all of that! You should stop brooding and actually care about what's going on now!" Jewel responded back, her tone rising to a yell.

"Don't tell _me _what to do!" Blu fired back. While the two arguements occured and Pedro, Robyn and Jez simply watched, two pigeons suddenly stopped in mid-air as they noticed the fighting nearby.

"Yo check it out, man! Public fight!" The first pigeon said with an accent that mirrored Bobby's as he quickly flew near Blu and Jewel.

"Livin' in the West sure has it's perks!" The other pigeon remarked, his accent sounding more Southern as he followed his buddy.

Before Blu and Jewel continued their arguing, they noticed the two pigeons had arrived and were already into it, chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" as the two Spix macaws were yelling at each other.

"Would you please leave? This is a matter that we'd like to discuss privately." Blu asked surprisingly politely compared to his tone to Jewel just before.

"It ain't private when we can hear you screamin' your 'matter' from across the road, blue bird." The Southern-sounding pigeon remarked as the two pigeons chuckled.

"Who exactly are you two anyway and why do you have the nerve to start chanting us to fight?" Jewel chimed in.

"Why, we're Boulder and Dash, best two pigeons you'll find in Clark County!" The Brooklyn-sounding pigeon responded energetically.

"Clark County?" Arthur asked from behind Blu and Jewel as him and Wally stopped tackling each other at the arrival of the new birds.

"Look, can you tell us where exactly we are? We kind of need to get back to Rio...where we belong." Jewel butted-in, wanting to get down to the point as quickly as she could.

"We're in Mexico, right? I can tell by all them palm trees!" Pedro exclaimed loudly as he flew front and center. The two pigeons shook their heads and laughed hysterically in response.

"Rio? Boy, you birds are a LONG ways from there...You guys are in a nice state called Nevada!" Boulder, the Southern pigeon said with a smile.

"Nevada?" Jez asked quizzingly, to which Boulder and Dash glanced at each other in amazed looks at the thought of someone not knowing what Nevada was.

"Just excuse her. She's from Canada. A little rusty on American geography..." Arthur said with a light laugh as he jumped in to help Jez's cause. Jez glanced at Arthur with a smile, and Arthur quickly smiled back nervously, realizing he was either making a fool of himself or making a good impression...either worked, he figured.

"Yes, Nevada! 36th state of the US that's filled with money, aliens and lots and lots of desert!" Dash replied at a lightning-fast pace.

"Nevada? Oh great, we're far from Rio, alright..." Blu said with a sigh.

"Relax baby bird! You can always fly back! After all, we all have wings." Boulder replied with an easy-going smile.

"You don't understand...he kinda got banged up after we were kidnapped..." Jewel explained, perking Blu's seemingly-broken wing up for the pigeons to see. Both Boulder and Dash reacted with winces at the damaged wing and then donned thoughtful expressions.

"Maybe we can get Franko to help 'em?" Boulder suggested.

"Franko? Who's Franko?" Blu asked immeadiatley.

"He's the biggest bird in all of this here state! He could give ya a tour around and get you guys a way home!" Dash exclaimed excitedly. Jewel, however, quickly interjected at this statement.

"Tour? No no no, pigeon boy. We need to get back NOW. I have kids to take care of..."

"Relax girl! You're in the U.S. now! You've got to live a little!" Dash exclaimed as he quickly attempted to pull Jewel by her wing, but he quickly tripped over from the mass of Jewel compared to his.

"Just take us to this Franko guy..." Jewel said with a groan.

"Alright then! C'mon everyone, next stop is Franko!" Boulder exclaimed as him and Dash flew off, with everyone following behind except Arthur and Blu.

"So, need a lift?" Arthur asked with a smile.

"No Arthur, I can walk..." Blu said rather grumpily as he trudged along.

"Nonsense! Going up!" Arthur exclaimed loudly as he grabbed hold of Blu and then flew up, carrying the now-struggling Blu.

"Hey, you want to be a blueberry pancake? If you keep strugglin', you're ganna become one by yourself..."

...

"How much longer?" Pedro whined as he flapped alongside Robyn, who were flying along with the rest of the group as they followed Boulder and Dash towards this 'Franko' person.

"Just calm down, honey. These guys know where they're going...at least I hope..." Robyn grumbled as they listened to the faint banter the two pigeons were exchanging ahead of them. Currently, Boulder and Dash were conversing with Arthur, Blu and Jewel ahead of them.

"So, you guys are from Rio, huh?" Boulder asked Blu attentively.

"Yes...We were enjoying our honeymoon in Niagra Falls before this cockatoo we met three years ago kidnapped us..." Jewel groaned.

"That sounds heavy. Ya know, it must be awesome living in Rio! Is it as musical and colorful as they make it look on TV?" Dash asked excitedly.

"Not even close! Everything's so bright and colorful, and there's more birds than you can count!" Blu exclaimed, still remembering how beautiful Rio was when he first arrived, his whole body quivering at the thought of having to mate with another one of his kind. He never would even be able to predict that he'd be with the bird he loved and friends that loved him three years from then.

"You know something, you sound alot like that guy who played Mark Zuckerburg in that Facebook movie." Boulder stated as he pondered to remember the voice of the actor who played Mark Zuckerburg in The Social Network.

"The Social Network? You mean Michael Cera?" Dash asked, now confused in what his friend meant.

"That wasn't Michael Cera. He looks and sounds like Michael Cera, but he isn't."

"So...he's exactly like Michael Cera, but isn't him?"

"Isn't his name Jesse Eisenburg?" Arthur offered, equally as confused over the matter.

"No, it was Michael Cera." Dash butted-in, now sounding defensive.

"No, it wasn't him."

"Yes it was!"

"Then who does Blu sound like?"

"Not Michael Cera! He sounds like that guy who played Mark Zuckerburg in The Social Network!"

"Yes! Michael Cera!"

Finally, Blu had clearly had enough of the banter over what he sounded like.

"Look, it doesn't matter who I sound like! Can we just get to where we're going so we can see our kids again?" Blu asked with a somewhat-annoyed tone.

"Chillax, buddy! We're already here!" Dash exclaimed as him and Boulder quickly descended down to a stop directly in front of a bus stop with a pay phone next to it.

"So...where's Franko?" Jewel asked, now starting to suspect these pigeons were idiots and led them nowhere.

"He's here. Lemme just call 'em...Yo Franko, you here?" Dash shouted out, to which everyone but Jewel jumped at the projection of the pigeon's voice.

"-look, it doesn't matter. I'm not helping you with this. Your problems aren't mine!" A voice shouted that sounded metallic and nearby. Everyone quickly realized it sounded like it came from the pay phone in front of them.

"TALKIN' PAY PHONE!" Pedro shrieked loudly as he bolted behind Robyn for protection, who rolled her eyes in embarassment of her mate acting moronically. Wally, believing this accusation to be true, walked slowly towards the pay phone with a dignified look on his face and a sensible tone as if he really though the pay phone was talking.

"Oh wise Franko, may you tell us birds, the receivers of your call, how to get back to Rio de Janeiro?" Wally asked with an absolutely serious tone, to which Jewel smacked herself in the face in embarassment at the seagull's stupidity.

"Franko isn't a pay phone, crazies! Franko!" Boulder shouted loudly.

"What? Sorry Deep Throat, gotta call ya later...Boulder, that you?" The same voice yelled, the source of the voice finally sticking his head out from the inside of the pay phone. The voice belonged to a small, blue and white bird. In fact, from what Blu could, the bird was a blue jay. The blue jay quickly fluttered down and then landed in front of Boulder and Dash with a smile.

"Boulder! Dash! Where have you two been, fools?" The blue jay said with a voice that sounded strangely like Chris Rock as he hugged Boulder and Dash enthuesiastically.

"New buddies, meet Franko! Best bird you'll find in this state!" Dash exclaimed as he motioned to the blue jay, who jokingly took a bow and then walked up to Blu and stuck out his wing to shake.

"Nice to meet new guys! So, you here for the money or the tan? 'Cause I can see you already have yo selves some babes!" Franko said with a sly smile as he spiraled up to Blu's head and then shot a wink to Blu, who smiled nervously, not sure how to respond. Arthur suddenly smiled widely and then positioned himself closer to Jez, realizing Franko was referring to him most likely.

"Actually uh...Franko, we're here to get help from you on how to get back to where we came from." Blu stuttered. Franko suddenly donned a confused expression and then fluttered back a bit to inspect Blu and the rest of the birds.

"You guys are tourists? Huh...you sure don't look like 'em." Franko said with a puzzled tone.

"That's the second time someone's told me that..." Blu muttered to himself, referring to the very first conversation he ever had with Pedro and Nico back when he was stuck in a cage when he arrived in Rio de Janeiro.

"We're actually from Rio, and according to these two wingdings you can help us get back." Jewel evaluated as Franko inspected the rest of the group.

"Oh, I gotcha! Yeah, I'll get you there in a snap! Easy bus ride away!" Franko exclaimed as he spun up to the bus stop sign and posed atop it.

"Bus ride? You do realize where exactly Rio _is_, right?" Jewel asked in disbelief, not understanding how Franko could possibly think it was a 'easy bus ride away'.

"'Course I do! You think I ain't been around?" Franko laughed as he perched himself atop Blu's head, who glanced above him at the blue jay.

"So, where are we going to get a bus?" Blu asked, and as if on cue a tour bus immeadiatley pulled up in front of the group.

"Wow. Good timing." Blu said with a smile and an impressed tone.

"Only the best for a new friend of mine!" Franko said with a grin, when he suddenly donned a puzzled expression.

"Ya know somethin', you sound alot like that guy from The Social Network..."

"Michael Cera?" Dash offered, immeadiatley receiving a dark expression from Boulder.

"JESSE EISENBURG!" Boulder yelled in response. Dash frowned back and then joined in once again.

"MICHAEL CERA!"

Blu and Jewel both groaned in a show of annoyance and then glanced at Franko, who now had a disapproving look on his face.

"Do they do this alot?" Blu asked, to which Franko snickered.

"Ya know, I like you! You're funny! I like funny guys!" Franko said with a wide grin as he wrapped his wing around Blu's head chummily as if they'd known each other for years, which frankly creeped both Blu and Jewel out.

"Alright, next stop is Paradise! Let's go Rioites!" Franko exclaimed as he fluttered atop the huge tour bus, who's engine began to sputter into ignition. Everyone quickly took off from the ground and landed on top of the bus...except Arthur and Blu. Arthur glanced at Blu with a grin, conveying the suggestion of carrying him, to which Blu groaned in response.

"Fine...carry me..." Blu mumbled with a closed beak.

"What was that?" Arthur asked with a smug smile.

"CARRY ME!"

...

As Bobby watched the others head off in search of Carlos, he turned around to see a baby toucan.

"Heh, I guess that i could deal with only one of you," said the bird, with a faint smile, but then, a group of them appeared, and his eyes went big.

"Holy cow!"

Meanwhile, Flora and Nico were with Sergio and Ruby at the fishing grounds while Rafael was at the market, looking for his old friend.

"Yo, doggy, where are you?" He flew over to the dirt part of a nearby park, and saw a bulldog's head popping out of a hole.

"Hey, Ralfy!" cried Luiz. "This place is a bone mine!"

The toucan chuckled, and said, "Well, I don't need a bone, bud, I need a clue." Luiz frowned.

"Hey, do I look like a blue dog that leaves footprints everywhere?"

Rafael chuckled, and said, "Easy, man... Have u seen a black crow lately?"

Luiz thought about it, and replied, "Hmmmm... I didn't see a crow, but i saw a black, chubby bird holding a bag. Probably seeds in there."

Rafael frowned, and asked, "Did it have a scar on the wing?"

"Yeah-huh," replied Luiz. "And he looked like a big, ol' dark version of Pedro... that wasn't him, was it?"

With a soft chuckle, Rafael looked at his clueless friend, and said, "No, that was Vito, that loco crow who birdnapped Carlos again a few years ago, and he's done it again."

At once, Luiz's dog-eyes grew huge as he cried, "Whoaaaa! That was him? I thought crows were skinny, and hung around corn fields!"

"Well, not this crow," sighed Rafael. "Thanks for the help, buddy..."

"No prob," said Luiz, not noticing that his drool was filling up the hole he was in. "Oh, and if you see Robyn, tell her I'm sorry for messin' up her bird ice statue."

"Oh, I'm sure that she forgot that," said Rafael. "But I'll tell her the news... adios!"

As the toucan flew away, Luiz waved at him, saying, "Bye, Ralfy! Okay, then, back to... whoa!"

His sentence was interrupted when he slipped on his drool, and after landing, he groaned. "Ohhh, I hate this drool problem."

Meanwhile, at the water section of Rio, which led to the ocean, Flora and Nico, along with Ruby and Sergio, landed on a boulder near the water and sewer pipes, with a group of pidgeons nearby.

Looking around, Flora saw that the sky had become gray and cloudy, and as the lightning flashed, she held onto Nico's wing, and said, "Why did we have to come here?"

"Aw, honey," chuckled Nico, patting her soft head. "Scared of a little lightning?"

All of a sudden, thunder and lightning flashed together, and Nico jumped in fear, making Flora laugh.

"What?" Nico asked, as if he was completely normal and had done nothing at all.

The female canary said, "Nothing... let's just find some clues so we can get out of here."

"Hmmm..." Looking around, Nico saw a pair of crabs nearby, and said, "Yo, girl, maybe they can help us!"

So, the group flew over to the crabs, and when they landed on the ground, one of them asked, "What do you want?"

Nico and Flora stepped back a little, surprised at the crab's attitude-ish voice tone, and the samba-lovin' canary said, "Er, we need to know if you saw a black crow around here, carrying a bag with something struggling inside."

"Oh, I saw that crow!" said the other crab, who was more of a nicer crab than the other. "And he almost got into a fight with those seagulls over there because they thought food was inside."

Flora smiled, and said, "Thanks... now, did you happen to find out where he was going exactly?"

The nice blue crab was about to speak, but then, the angry and red crab growled, "Yeah, we've seen the direction he headed, but I am not saying anything to you flying objects, and there's no way you're gonna make me!"

When the crab said that, a frown appeared on Flora's face... and a few seconds later, she was hovering around the group of seagulls. At once, Flora whistled, and the crabs became filled with fear as the seagulls looked up, seeing the crab, and all of them began to cry, "Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!"

The canary grinned at the crab, and said, "Better start talking, Mr. Krabs, because I don't think these seagulls want to keep you un-steamed any longer..."

"All right, I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll talk!" cried the crab. "He headed in the northern direction, I think, and the bag had a logo that said 'Property of Caeser's Hotel' or something like that!"

Back on the rock, as the others watched Flora get the crab away from the birds, Ruby asked, "Uncle Nico, why is Auntie Flora acting like that?"

"I'm not sure," chuckled Nico. "But I think it's because she's really worried about your brother..."

Sergio looked at the seagulls chasing Flora and the crab, and said, "Huh, this reminds me of something..."

A few minutes later, as they were flying in the air, joined by Rafael, the toucan asked, "Okay, Luiz told me that he saw him carrying a bag, which I bet that he put Carlos in. You guys?"

Nico replied, "A crab told us that he saw Vito going north, and that the bag had a logo that said it was the property of a hotel called Caeser's,"

"Really?" said Rafael. "Huh... sounds like... okay, we need to go see Bobby."

"Huh?" Nico and Flora gave each other confused looks, and Flora asked, "Why?"

"Because if Vito is going where I think he is," said Rafael. "I want to know if Arthur's been there, or wanted to go there... come on!"

...

Back in Nevada, the birds from Rio were still coasting along on a seemingly-deserted highway road. While Blu and Jewel were chatting away quietly on one end of the bus, and Pedro and Robyn sat perched on the side of the bus' roof, Franko slowly fluttered near Arthur and Jez, who were standing in the front end of the roof and perched next to Arthur, who quickly noticed the blue jay next to him.

"Yo buddy! How you holdin' out?" Franko asked, to which Arthur replied with a half-hearted smile and then a sigh.

"Well...I'm kind of at a loss of how to get that beautiful bird right there..." Arthur sighed as he nodded his head in the direction of Jez, who was happily taking in the nice breeze that the wind blowing into them provided. Franko responded with a perplexed expression, and then slightly chuckled.

"Eh, don't worry about it. We all have charm. I'm sure if you have the right stuff and you two connect, you'll both be fine!" Franko said with a dismissing tone that made him sound so sure of it.

"Yeah...well the problem is I don't exactly have luck with ladies...besides a girl a few years ago, I'm a flop with chicks..." Arthur said with sarrow filling his voice, still stuck to the memories of Petricious a few years ago. However, Franko took Arthur's word choice a completely different way.

"Woah buddy, that's sick! What kinda bird are ya? Those guys aren't even-" Franko started, taking Arthur's use of 'chicks' as a certain other group of birds.

"No, no. I mean girls, Franko." Arthur corrected, realizing he was horribly mis-interpreted. Franko realized his mistake, and then laughed.

"Sorry...Good thing ya told me, 'cause I woulda sent ya to the nuthouse if ya hadn't..." Franko said with a laugh.

"So, you think you can help me get Jez? Some romantic help would go a long way..." Arthur said desperately, his eyes almost transferring his pleads into Franko.

"'Course I can! You think I became the best bird in this state for picklin' daises? Lady birds swoon over the sound of my voice, bud!" Franko said with a sly grin.

"Really? You take that weird Love Potion Number 9 stuff to do that?" Arthur asked with a confused tone. Franko perked his eyebrow, confused at what Arthur was referring to, which Arthur immeadiatley realized.

"Eh, dumb movie I saw that was based off a song...So, how do I score Jez right there?" Arthur said as he stared dreamily at Jez, who still happily gazed off into the landscape surrounding the highway road they were riding down.

"Well...how'd you get girls in the past?" Franko asked immeadiatley.

"Well...I've only ever been in love two times before this. With this sweet o'le parakeet from Paraguay named Petricious-"

"Common Paraguayan name..." Franko added with a laugh.

"Petricious left a few years ago...we were in love, kind of like my buddies Blu and Jewel are over there..." Arthur began as he eyed Blu and Jewel, who looked as if they were having another one of their 'romantic moments'.

"She was a Hollywood star, fortunetly or unfortunetly...her agent just came one day and snatched her out of my life. Like a berry off a vine..." Arthur said with surprisingly depressed tone as the reporter-bird felt a stream of wet liquid streaming down his face.

"Wow...that sounds real heavy." Franko remarked, his mind completely baffled at this revealation.

"Weight has nothing to do with it...besides my heart..." Arthur said with a sad sigh. All this thinking of Petricious was hurting his heart, and it made it hard to focus on trying to get a girl. Apparently, all this crying was starting to attract attention, as Jez suddenly turned her head and noticed Arthur crying. Jez craned her head closer to Arthur with a sympathetic look and inspected him, suddenly catching Arthur's attention as well, who laughed nervously in response.

"Are you alright, Artie?" Jez asked lightly, not wanting to spark anything to happen with the quirky Spix macaw. The sound of Jez's voice just bloomed into Arthur's ears, her sweet tone pouring like the sweetest honey and making him feel warm inside. Arthur was lost in these feelings until Jez finally nudged him, knocking him back into reality.

"Oh, sorry...Just remembering a few things I'd rather not think about...Past loves and such, hehe..." Arthur chuckled, trying not to embarass himself or sound too self-thinking.

"Well...you can talk to me. After all, we're both Spix macaws here." Jez said with a laugh and a smile that could've melted Arthur's heart if it was possible. Arthur, holding back any feelings he wanted to shout out, decided to spill the beans.

"I had this girl...Her name was Petricious...She was a big bird actress in Hollywood. We loved each other and...one day her agent just picked her up from Rio and took her away, and I haven't seen her since...and now I don't know what to do with my heart anymore..." Arthur sighed, his eyes swelling up once again thanks to the wonderful memories he had with Petricious that still ripped his heart in two.

"Well...you know what they say, for every person there's that certain someone. I guess it's just a sign you didn't find that someone yet...Hey, maybe you'll find someone on this trip, huh?" Jez said with her same smile staring into Arthur, who formed a smile back through the immense tears in his eyes.

"Maybe you're right...I suppose true love is bound to find you at some point..." Arthur said with a slight smile, trying to rid his bad thoughts.

"At least you aren't like me...The person I was attracted to didn't even know I existed..." Jez groaned. Arthur was no interested in finding out what this someone was, and quickly dove in to find out.

"Didn't know you existed? I don't know how that's possible with eyes like yours." Arthur said, suddenly sparking a light laugh out of Jez.

"Well, there was this cute Spix macaw back in Rio that I used to talk to. I think his name was Marco...He was always chasing after this other bird named Anita. I tried so hard to get his attention, but it seemed like he never really payed attention to me...he just wanted Anita." Jez sighed. Arthur's eyes bugged open when the name 'Marco' was mentioned. For some odd reason, that name sounded incredibly familiar. It was almost as if he knew someone by that name...

"Marco, eh? Well, like you said...I suppose we'll all find that someone at some point..." Arthur muttered, inching himself closer to Jez, trying to get a better sense of romance onto the situation. Jez immeadiatley noticed Arthur inching himself toward her, but the female Spix didn't bother to break his spirits and say she wasn't interested. After all, he'd accept being friends...at least, she hoped.

As Arthur slowly inched his way closer, he noticed Franko leaning on a nearby radio antenna of the bus with a smile donned on. The blue jay winked lightly, his sly look almost making Arthur chuckle. Before he could utter anything, however, a loud shouting suddenly caught everyone's attention. Both Arthur and Jez spun around and immeadiatley spotted Blu and Jewel, who strangely enough were screaming at each other like a failing couple.

"I don't want to hear another peep from you until we get home, Mr. Sensitive!" Jewel shouted out at Blu as she suddenly grabbed his injured wing and pulled on it to the point where Blu's eyes were practially popping out of his sockets.

"Hey! Don't you do that to my brother!" Jez said as she quickly got up with a defensive yell, specifically directed at Jewel. Arthur quickly thought of something to do, and then grabbed Jez before she could storm towards Jewel.

"Look, I'll handle it...I know Blu too...Just sit here and I'll handle it..." Arthur said lightly with a knowing smile, to which Jez backed off in defeat.

"Who are you? Dr. Jenkins, aviary therapist?" Jez asked with a smile, to which Arthur started to laugh in response, but then he realized it was meant to make fun of him as his eyes popped open in surprise.

"Hey, now be careful with that. My father was a respected bird who helped every bird that had a problem..." Arthur said in defense, to which Jez giggled at his arguing.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Just go ahead and talk to my brother..." Jez said as she nudged Arthur off in Blu's direction, to which Arthur formed a goo-filled smile. Arthur knew he was at least making an impression, and that's all he could ask after all the years of a lonely nest back in the forest of Rio.

Jez watched with a smile as the quirky Spix macaw walked off towards her brother. Jez then noticed the flapping of Franko come close as the blue jay landed next to her with a confused look on his face.

"He's somethin', ain't he?" Franko asked flatly with a still-confused look plastered on his blue and white face.

"He's just trying to have fun in his life...I don't blame him when there's only four of us left..."

...

Rafael and Nico both glanced at each other in a feeling of uncertainty as they slowly made their way towards Rafael's nest, where they were both sure Bobby was located, taking care of the mon-...kids.

"You sure he's here? I don't hear him or yo kids..." Nico muttered, searching as him and Rafael swooped through the trees and bushes. Before Rafael could respond, the two finally parted a bush apart and spotted Bobby...a stretched-apart Bobby who was being pulled by Rafael's screaming kids at his legs and wings.

"Yep, I'm sure he's here..." Rafael said with a sarcastic tone combined with a smile. Nico chuckled at this statement and then flew over to Bobby, who was desperatley trying to prey the toucans off of him.

"Hey Bob-O! So, havin' fun?" Nico said with a laugh.

"Ha ha...Now help me man! These kids are turning me into a rubber bird!" Bobby yelped as Nico quickly pulled Bobby until the grip of the kids broke off and sent Bobby crashing into Nico.

"Ow..." Nico muttered from under Bobby.

"Hey Bobby! Enjoying my kids?" Rafael joked as he was quickly surrounded by his kids. Bobby rubbed his head and groaned in response.

"Well, they're a handful. I'll give ya that...full of energy too." Bobby said with a smile as he watched the small toucans crawl all over their proud dad.

"That's not even the worst part...but that's not the point. Bobby, have you ever heard of a place called Caesar's?" Rafael asked.

"...Vito's going to Italy?" Bobby suggested, to which Nico snickered audibly.

"No, I mean a hotel. A hotel called Caesar's?" Rafael corrected, to which Bobby immeadiatley lightened his expression.

"Oh...of course I have! Caesar's Palace! In Las Vegas! Arthur was talkin' about going there a few years ago. I even remember the first time he told me and Wally, and then Wally asked if the real Caesar lived there...then we saw some movie with the hotel in it and we decided against it..." Bobby said happily. Rafael and Nico both rejoiced with corresponding smiles, and then prepared to take off once again.

"Thanks Bobby! We know where we can find Carlos and that loco crow now..." Rafael said with a smile as he quickly took off with Nico, to which Bobby smiled to himself knowing he'd contributed, when he suddenly realized he was still taking care of the kids.

"Fiona! Sophia! Don't be messing around with those sharp sticks! That's a good way to get a splinter!"

...

On the bus ride to Las Vegas, while Franko was talking to Arthur and Jez, Blu and Jewel were on one side, while Robyn and Pedro were on another side.

The young Macaw by the name of Blu looked at his injured wing, and he began to remember when it was first injured, back when Nigel had kidnapped them for a group of Mexican smugglers back in the Amazon.

With a deep sigh, he looked at Jewel, and said, "I hate not being able to fly..."

"Don't we all?" said Jewel, wrapping a wing around her mate. "Oh, Blu... it hurts me so much to see you like this."

"I know, Jewel, I know," replied Blu. "Is this how my life is going to be now? Kidnapped by the "sca and wind up going to some far-off place? If I wanted to travel, I wouldn't have done it like this."

The beautiful bird smiled, and said, "Hey, you know what, Blu? Maybe, when we have some alone time... we could, er, resume our honeymoon."

"Resume it?" said Blu. "Huh... that sounds pretty good to me."

"That's the plan," smiled Jewel, who scooted closer to Blu, and began to give him a comforting kiss... but then, the passionate female accidentally grabbed Blu's injured wing, making him yelp in pain.

As Jewel went back a few feet, Blu groaned, and said, "Jewel, do you mind if you not kiss me like that until my wing heals?"

"What?" said Jewel. "Blu, I barely even pinched your wing... just relax."

She went closer to her mate, but Blu pushed her away. "No, no, no, no... you 'grabbed' my wing during your whole makeout session."

"Makeout session?" growled Jewel. "Is that what you think it was? I was just trying to relax you!"

"Relax?" Blu looked at her like she was crazy. "Jewel, ever since I saved your life, almost 50% of your kisses have been makeout sessions... with 30% being us...woohoo, and the other 20% has been whatever."

Jewel frowned, and said, "You can't make life based on percents, Blu... and I can't believe that you think almost half a decade has been full of just love and woohoo..." Blu raised an eyebrow, and said, "What happened almost half-a-decade ago?"

Jewel frowned at her mate, and Blu said, "Oh, yeah, we mated... well, jeez, Jewel, don't be so sensitive, I just don't want you putting me in more pain."

"Sensitive?" Jewel's eyes began to fill up with anger. "You're one to talk, Tyler Blu Gunderson..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Jewel crossed her wings, and said, "Don't play dumb with me, cage boy... at least I don't freak out because a spider is on my back!"

"I thought you said it was just a leaf!" cried Blu in surprise.

"Well, I lied, okay?" cried Jewel. "There was a spider on your back."

Blu's mouth dropped, but then, he shook his head, and said, "Nope... no, no, no, no... look, Jewel, I am not going to get angry at you while I'm in this condition. So, please, just fly away for a while, and let my wing heal... until then, your hormones can wait."

"Oh, really?" said Jewel. "Well, here, let me help you with that..."

For some reason, she grabbed Blu's injured wing with her left foot, making his eyes pop like a bowling ball, and when she let go, she said, "I don't want to hear another peep from you until we get home, Mr. Sensitive!"

As Jewel flew away, Blu laid down on the floor, and as Arthur flew over, he asked, "Hey buddy, are you all right?"

With a groan, Blu said, "Yeah, Arthur... just dealing with women problems."

"Oh..." Arthur nodded his head. "Well, I didn't want to say this in front of her, Blu, but you've been kinda off your game lately."

Blu looked at his friend, and said, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, blue amigo," chuckled Arthur. "Your love life with Jewel has been like a hurricane... exciting at first, then ends in disaster... instead of woohoo, it's been hoowoo...to be clear, you flipped on status of relationship. Get what I'm saying, now?"

Blu covered his eyes with his wing, and said, "You know, Arthur, if I wasn't injured right now, I would throw you off this bus."

"I know, huh?" laughed Arthur. "That's why you're my best boy, Blu... no matter how much I annoy you, you take it like a man!"

"Yeah, well," said Blu. "Do you think that you could let me rest, please?"

"Rest?" The Macaw laughed again. "Blu, we're in Nevada! United States!...A place filled with money, cash, gold, casinoes, hotels, food, girls, drinks... and money! Plus, apparently, if you do shots at the top of a hotel around here, you end up in some crazy situations...some very undesirable... "

Blu looked at his friend, and said, "You said money twice... and both cash and gold count as money!"

"I know, huh?" said Arthur. "Money, money, money... oh, and I think I'm getting somewhere with your sister."

"Don't say that," said Blu with a groan. Arthur looked at him with a confused look.

"What do you want me to say? I haven't woohoo'd with her yet, and I don't even know if she likes me in the good way."

"Well, how am I supposed to know?" said Blu.

"You guys are related!" cried Arthur. "Shouldn't there be, like, a telepathic conversation or something?"

Blu groaned, and he thought, "Why me? Out of all the Macaws left in Rio, it had to be me..."

"...Because you're blue?" Arthur suggested, to which Blu frowned in response.

...

While Blu and Arthur were arguing, Pedro and Robyn were on the other side of the bus, with the hippity-hoppin' cardinal whistling a cute tune.

"Ooh, that sounds nice," smiled Robyn. "What song is that?"

"I don't know," shrugged Pedro. "All I know is that Nico sings it alot when we're travellin' somewhere... aw, I should have whistled it when me and Jewel were on that Mexican thief's ship."

Robyn asked, "Whatever happened to them?"

Pedro shrugged, and said, "Beats me, babe... last I heard, the mean one was serving time in the slammer while the nice one only got locked up for a few days, and now, he's doing community service until Carnivale begins."

"Well, that sounds okay..." said Robyn. "Speaking of Rio de Janeiro... do you know any songs in Portuguese?"

The cardinal asked, "How could I know any songs in that language?"

"Nico does," replied Robyn. "Flora told me that he sang her the English and Portuguese version of a song called Forever Darling."

"Really?" A smile appeared on the bird's face. "Huh... that's the only thing I didn't know about him."

Robyn smirked, and said, "Well.. isn't there any romantic thing you could do for me?"

Pedro then noticed that his wife was getting a little closer than usual, and he began to feel awkward. "Er... isn't being your husband enough, babe?"

Then, Robyn began to get angry. "No, that's enough! What, you think love is something to toss away?"

"Yeah!" cried Pedro. "I mean, no... I don't know! What do you want?"

"JUST SHUT UP!" cried Robyn, and she flew away to join Jewel, while Pedro turned to look at Blu, who had just finished teaching Arthur a lesson.

"Man, both of you guys are having off days..." Arthur remarked with a pondering look on his face.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Blu. "That's the second time you two fought... only now, thank goodness, she didn't hurt my wing."

"I dunno, man," shrugged Pedro. "Ever since the wedding, she's been eating a lot of the food that I get us for lunch, breakfast, and dinner... her body's getting a little, er, fluffy... and she's been acting like a cuckoo bird... like, one second, she's the babe I fell for in the Amazon, but then, she turns into that guy who talks a lot, and sounds like that skinny kid from that Super something movie."

"Michael Cera?" asked Franko, who suddenly came over to join the conversation. "Or are you talking 'bout Jesse Eisenberg?"

Pedro shook his head. "No, that's the guy who sounds like Blu..."

Blu rolled his eyes, and said, "I already told you, Franklin, I don't sound like any of those guys."

"Yeah!" said Pedro. "If anyone, he sounds like that guy who played Venom in that third Spidey movie..."

"Topher Grace?" said Franko. "Nah, bird... if Blu sounds like him, then you sound like that tech-voice-guy who sings with that group, and if you sound like will i am, then..."

"...you sound like Chris Rock!" Arthur finished with a smile towards Franko.

"And you sound like that dude from 'Chicago'!" Franko exclaimed back to the reporter-bird.

Blu slapped his forehead, and grumbled, "Franko, just get me to where we're going already! I just want to get back to Rio, find my kids, and have a NORMAL day of my life!"

"_Détendez-vous_, my blue buddy! After all, we're already close by." Franko answered with a smile as he pointed with a flourish to a small sign up ahead. In fact, Blu already noticed the strange appearance of palm trees appearing alongside the road.

"Did we suddenly head to South Beach?" Arthur asked with a confused expression, to which Franko chuckled and then laid back on a large radio antenna on the roof of the bus they were on.

"Man, you guys don't catch on, do ya?" Franko asked with a smile.

"What's there to catch, blue bird?" Pedro asked with an annoyed tone.

"Easy. Where else would ya go if you're in Nevada?" Franko answered, to which Arthur immeadiatley gave an answer to.

"Reno?"

Franko scowled at this suggestion, and then chuckled a bit.

"One day you'll understand why I can never go back to Reno...it involves cake, seltzer and some other stuff...but enough about me." Franko said with a smile.

"Alright...Just tell us where we're going, because quite frankly I'm starting to think you don't know where we're going!" Blu said with a somewhat-annoyed tone.

"Just relax! We're in paradise now, buddies! Specifically, Las Vegas!" Franko exclaimed, motioning his wings towards a quickly passing-by sign, which happened to be a huge white and yellow sign that read the iconinic 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada' on it.

"Aww yeah! I've wanted to go to Vegas all my life!" Pedro exclaimed with a grin. However, Jewel walked over with an annoyed expression her face and then stopped beside Blu, who glanced at his love hawk with a slightly-nervous face, seeing as she'd been yelling at him only a few minutes earlier.

"What's going on, now?" Jewel asked with a sigh.

"Apparently we're in Las Vegas." Blu answered with a puzzled expression.

"C'mon Blu! You need to get excited! This is Las Vegas! Sin City! Bright-Light City!" Franko yelled with excitement in his voice.

"I'm excited!" Pedro exclaimed loudly, to which Robyn, who had just flown over, frowned at her now-rialed up mate.

"Then let's sing! I got that feeling now!" Franko yelled, to which he then flung himself toward the radio antenna of the bus and then with one wing propelled himself into a swing back around and then landed on top of Pedro and began to sing...surprisingly well.

_Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire!_

_ There's a whole lot of money that's ready to burn, so get those stakes up higher!_

"Why is it that everyone sings now?" Jewel asked with an annoyed tone.

"I don't know, but this is actually kind of catchy." Blu stated with a smile as Franko spun to the edge of the front of the bus and then backflipped off the front of the bus. Before anyone could even wonder where he went, the blue jay rose back up, courtesy of a random group of cardinals and such that appeared from below him.

_There's a thousand pretty birdies just a-waitin out there, and they're all livin' devil-may-care. _

_I'm just a devil with a lot of love to spare. _

_Viva Las Vegas! _

_Viva Las Vegas!_

"So, do ya catch my drift now buddy?" Franko said as he flew back towards Blu and perched on top of his head.

"Yeah, but we really can't have a tour when we need to get back-" Blu was about to finish before Franko began making fun of the Spix macaw by making his claw imitated Blu's talking.

"C'mon man! You only got 24 hours a day to enjoy this place! Just relax and have an awesome time, that's my motto around here!" Franko said with a wide grin as he flung himself back to the front of the bus as if it was a main stage and then spun dramatically, somehow timing correctly as every light on the Strip on the hotels nearby blasted on, creating enough dramatic effect to make even Pedro admire it.

_And How I Wish That There Were More Than twenty-four hours in the day!_

_But even if there were forty more, I wouldn't sleep a minute away. _

Franko quickly stopped himself from his dancing, to which 2 small cardinals landed on both his sides of him, and then grabbed him by his wings and spun him around like a vortex.

_Oh, there's blackjack and poker and a roulette wheel. A fortune won and lost on every deal. All you need's a strong heart and a nerve of steel. _

_Viva Las Vegas! Viva Las Vegas! Viva Las Vegas! Viva Las Vegas!_

"So, you catchin' my drift a bit? You guys have gotta live yo lives a bit here. This is the most fun place on Earth!" Franko exclaimed as he walked towards the birds still in a daze because of the spinning.

"Yes...but can we _please _get back to Rio?" Blu said with a forced smile, trying to act nice over his impatience. Franko scowled at this repetition of Blu and Jewel's past statements and then snapped his claw, to which a group of birds crowded around the blue jay, all with energetic expressions and voices.

"Alright everyone! My new buds in town are trying to get back to Rio, so let's get this party bus going towards Rio!" Franko exclaimed, to which everyone cheered and immeadiatley swooped down to where the driver's cab of the bus would be located.

"...What are they going to do to the driver?" Jewel asked suspiciously, knowing this likely would lead to something bad. Franko whipped his wing nonchalantly in a 'No Problem' fashion just before the bus suddenly drove a few inches off course as if ready to run off the road, but then regained it's original course. Franko smiled sheepishly at Jewel, who now had an angry expression on her face.

"C'mon! How about some more singin'?" Franko exclaimed as he then swooped back to the antenna and then perched himself on top with a huge group of his supposed friends then lifted him into the air above it, almost looking like a circus act of sorts. It almost looked choreographed, Blu thought to himself.

_Viva las vegas with your neon flashin'!_

_And your one-armed bandits crashin'_

_ All those hopes down the drain. _

_Viva las vegas turnin' day into nighttime, turnin' the night into daytime, _

_and if you see it once, you'll never come home again!_

Right after Franko jumped back down from his groupies, Pedro immeadiatley flocked over to the blue jay with an absolutely hyped expression on.

"Yo man, where'd you learn to sing like that?" Pedro asked, to which Franko, instead of answering him immeadiatley, whipped him around like the two were dancing, flipped the cardinal above him and then caught Pedro with a flourish.

"You learn to dance too?" Pedro asked, ignoring the strange soreness now occuring inside of him.

"I learn everything from everywhere in this city! You can't live in this place without knowing how dance your feathers off!" Franko exclaimed as he swung Pedro around until he finally let go, and the rapping cardinal slammed into Wally, who chuckled after getting knocked to the floor.

"Remind me to destroy everything related to a musical when we get back to Rio..." Jewel groaned to Robyn.

"Want to add that to the list of things to do along with paying Rafael back?" Robyn asked with a smile.

"Make it so." Jewel answered with a straight expression as Franko continued to sing.

_I'm gonna keep on the run, I'm gonna have me some fun, If it costs me my very last dime. _

_If I wind up broke, Then I'll always remember that I had a swingin' time. _

_I'm gonna give it everything i've got,_

_Lady luck please let the dice stay hot!_

_Let me shoot a seven with every shot..._

_Viva Las Vegas! Viva Las Vegas!_

_ Viva Las Vegas! Viva Las Vegas! _

_Viva, viva..._

"Can we PLEASE just get to Rio already?" Blu finally shouted, to which Franko stopped his finale and then scowled.

"Alright, alright...Here we go, ladies and gentlemen...Rio!" Franko exclaimed, backing out of the way to reveal a huge, lit-up sign that read in a spectacular-looking fashion 'RIO'. Blu simply stared in disbelief at the mix-up, while Jewel could only hold the same expression she had right as Blu sang "Say You, Say Me".

"Well...this sure is a mix-up..." Arthur said softly with a nervous expression, noticing the expression on Jewel's face starting to mold into a infuriated look.

"I'm going to kill him..." Jewel stated flatly and ominously.

"No you ain't!" Pedro assured, to which Jewel took a step toward a now-confused Franko.

"Yes I am..." Jewel responded, her voice now starting to steam into fury.

"Jewel..." Blu started, but he couldn't even speak another word, as Jewel quickly charged forward and tackled the singing blue jay, who yelped in terror as the female Spix macaw attacked him.

"Ahh! Jewel, don't kill the guy helping us!" Blu yelped as he ran toward Jewel to get her off Franko, who was still screaming loudly.

"Don't let 'er get my face! That's the best part of me!"

Meanwhile, Jez, Arthur, Pedro, Wally and Robyn watched on the sidelines, all with tired and confused expressions.

"Guh...this has to happen only to us, doesn't it?" Robyn asked.

"Looks like it...Let's stop Jewel before she tears Franko apart..." Arthur suggested as he slowly walked forward to help Blu with his crazed mate.

"Boys will be boys, huh?" Jez asked, to which Robyn snickered in response.

"You don't know the half of it, sister..."

...

A/N: Hope you've enjoyed the story so far! You may likely see chapters get uploaded MORE often than the summer, in fact. Project NICK becomes extremely open during this time...at least from what he tells me, and with how I use my computer time wisely on those awful Junior year school nights, you'll likely see these chapters come in at a MUCH faster pace.

So, until next chapter,

**READ, ENJOY AND REVIEW**


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